Through the Looking-Glass Alice's Return
by WonderlandInvader
Summary: Alice Kingsleigh returns to Underland for good this time, but what happens when dangers both new and old threaten her friends and family? Who can she and the others truly trust in this dark time?
1. Fairfarren Alice, Hello Outlands

_**Prologue – **_

_**Fairfarren, Alice…Hello Outlands**_

"Will this take me home?" Alice stared at the vial of Jabberwocky blood, the purple liquid glistening in the sunlight.

"_Don't tell her…_" I secretly pleaded to everyone in the clearing, "_Don't let her leave…not again._"

"If that is what you wish." Mirana just _**HAD**_ to say something.

She was about to put the bottle to her lips when I laid my hand on hers. Alice smiled up at me shyly.

"You could stay, you know…" I gazed at her intently, hoping she would accept my offer.

Her grin widened, almost as big as Chessur's, "What an idea! A _**crazy**_, _**mad**_, _**wonderful**_ idea!" Alice beamed.

"_Yes! C'mon Alice! Say you will…say you will!"_

Her happy expression soon began to fade, "But, I can't… There are so many things I must do. So many questions to answer. Don't fret though; I'll be back again before you know it!" she tried to reassure me, but I wasn't thoroughly convinced; she had said that _**last**_ time she was here, and look how long it took her to make good on _**that**_! She grasped my other hand, "I _promise_."

I struggled to hold back the tears forming in my eyes, thinking of how long I might have to go on without her…_again_, "You won't remember me…_It'll be just like when you came back this time._" I didn't say the last part out loud; I knew I would break down right in front of her if I did. It pained my heart to think that even if I told her what I was so desperately trying to get across to her now, she would've forgotten it before she even got out of the Portal from here to Overland.

"How could I forget _**you**_?" she paused, then added, "Hatter? Why **is** a raven like a writing desk?"

I shrugged and truthfully replied, "I haven't the slightest idea." We both smiled. Leaning in, I wrapped my arms around her tightly, taking all of her in for one last time; she did the same, "_Fairfarren, Alice._" I considered kissing her goodbye, but I decided against it.

She stepped back and, still holding my hand, she took a sip of the blood, "Fairfarren, Tarrant." As the words where coming out, she was slowly evaporating back into her world. Her hand never left mine until she was gone completely, and I was left alone with all those people standing around me, wishing her farewell while I was wishing she was still here with me.

"_Oh Alice, please hurry back_…" I knew she couldn't hear me, nonetheless, I hoped that some way, somehow, she would…

We all stood in a long, awkward silence; Red Cards, White Chessmen, everyone else, staring at the place where our champion once was. Now, there was nothing but a cloud of smoke, a pale remnant of the beautiful heroine. The sun finally broke free of the thick black clouds that had hung over this end of Underland for what seemed like a hundred years, and a shaft of light shot down onto the very spot where she'd been standing. The light reflected off the particles in the mist in front of me, causing her lovely face to briefly become visible once more. I knew it was all an illusion; she wasn't really there, she was gone. Long gone.

Mally was ultimately the one to end the hush that had fallen over the thousands huddled together. Her tiny body was worn with exhaustion from the battle, I could tell by the weary look in her eyes and how faintly she tugged on the hem of my pants, "Hatter? Are you alright?" her squeaky voice was barely audible, even as quiet as it was.

I didn't even look down to answer her, "Yes, I'm fine… _Can't you tell?_" the tears were slowly beginning to creep out, so anxious to destroy the façade I was attempting to create.

"_**Are**_ you?" she argued. I should've known better than to try and fool her, she could see right through the false smile and the faded green gaze that her brown eyes bore into. My sagging, darkened clothing seemed to be blowing my cover as well.

"Please Tarrant, don't be so disheartened. Alice said she was coming back, didn't she? I know her as well as you; she's a girl of her word, she won't break a promise, _especially_ one made to _you_." the White Queen chimed in, "She really cares for you…"

My now scarlet red glower had to be averted away from her, for fear my temper might explode any minute, "_I know that. You don't have to tell me_." Losing what little is left of my sanity in the presence of a member of our monarchy was not on my to-do list, so kept my mouth shut and nodded in agreement, "_Mirana is a royal for sure… a royal pain in the…_"

My train of thought was interrupted by Chessur appearing behind me with a sincere look of sympathy on his face. The immense feline placed a "comforting" paw on my shoulder, "Hatter, I know how you must feel about this…" he began, but I cut him off mid-sentence; enough was enough!

"How _**dare**_ you tell me such lies!? You sorry, _**guddler's scuttish pilgar lickering shukem juggling slunking **_excuse for a cat!" I suddenly flew off the handle, "You have _**no**_ earthly idea how I feel Chessur! Not in the _**slightest**_! You've _**never**_ felt the same way _**I**_ feel about Alice for anyone but _**yourself**_!"

He shrunk away from me, hiding his cowardly form behind the White Queen, whose eyes were as wide as field we stood on. She stared at me in disbelief, "_**Tarrant**_ _Hightopp_!"

"Yes, your _Majesty_?" I mockingly addressed her. I bowed low and plastered another insincere grin on my face.

"I'm _surprised_ at you!" Mirana's mouth stood agape, her fists clenched and unclenched at her side as she spoke, "_**What**_ has come over you?"

"Goodness, I don't rightly _**know**_! Could it possibly be that the one girl that I honestly would give the very _world___for has just left without even _**knowing **_that to be a fact?" I choked another sob back. My breath became more rapid as time passed, a few whimpers escaping here and there; my whole body shook with anger and sadness at the same time, "Could that, _perchance_, be what has come over me?"

Her sharp glare softened, "She _knows_ that you care about her, and she has the same fondness for you. If it hadn't been for that, most of us wouldn't be standing here right now. She only fought the Jabberwocky because she knew that _you_ believed in her when no one else did, when she didn't even believe in herself. All that mattered to her when she escaped my sister's castle was how _you_ were getting out and if _you_ were safe." the White Queen informed me, "_You're_ the only one she really said goodbye to…"

Unable to form a retort, I turned away from the prying eyes of those around me and faced the castle ruins where Alice had slain the Jabberwock. A single tear slid down, the wind carrying it toward the steps she had ascended to fight the fearsome creature until it crashed against the stones. Mirana soon gave up on talking to me, and lead the others home to Marmoreal in a motley assortment of Red and White soldiers, animals, and one very sad Hatter lagging behind the rest.

The Outlands' steel gates slammed shut behind us, bringing me back to the stark coldness of reality. There was no way out…no way back home….nothing to make everything alright again; the way it was supposed to be.

I'm not even supposed to be here! _**Iracebeth**_ is. Not me. Not the son of the heroic and legendary White Knight, Alexander Stayne. I, _Ilosovic_ Stayne that is, am in the complete _**opposite**_ of where I should be.

If I'd had the brains of a borogrove, maybe I would've left the former Red Queen's castle when the Hatter made his escape. That would've gotten me out safely; with a distracting mass of people stampeding through the gates, no one would notice I was gone until it was too late.

But _**NO**_… I was too big a _**coward**_! Like an _idiot_, I had stared after them as they paraded to the White Queen's palace to prepare for the Frabjous Day.

Since that didn't work, I still could've made an exit the morning of the battle. Making it in time to join Mirana's army was out of the question though; I would've had to follow them to the valley. The apologies to Alice and the others would have to be short and hurried, and I'm sure she wouldn't accept one from me without an explanation that I hadn't the time for. Things like that would have to wait until after the fight, provided that we both survived.

I mean, I _**knew**_ Alice was going to make it; there was no doubt in my mind that she'd win. It was myself that I was concerned about dying or getting severely injured. There was no telling if the White Queen's soldiers would see me as friend or foe, and whether or not they'd fight with me or against me. Tarrant was still on my side of course, (_despite all evidence to the contrary_) but the other U.U.R members didn't seem to be there for me.

Especially not Alice.

She didn't even _**remember**_ me from the last time she was here! It was almost like she was … _afraid_ of me…we used to be great friends when we were children. But that was before she left for almost ten years… Before she vanished for over a decade without a trace and left the rest of us to fight on our own, even though that wasn't her fault.

While I was in the midst of moping about what-ifs and would've-could've-should've moments, Iracebeth continued her chorus of "**YOU TRIED TO KILL ME! YOU TRIED TO KILL ME, STAYNE!**" right in my ear. I'm pretty sure the people in the farthest end of Nidaria (_that would be the northernmost country in Underland, in case you didn't know_) could hear her quite plainly, as loud as she was shrieking. I paid her no mind, which only made her scream louder. Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll go hoarse before the week is out… Of course, I've never been known for being lucky.

I sighed and rolled my eye at her, "Oh would you just _**shut up**_ already?! Good heavens Iracebeth, I _**KNOW**_ I tried to kill you! I did it on _**purpose**_. _**Get**_. _**Over**_. _**It**_."

"_**GET OVER IT?! HOW**_ am I supposed to _**get**_ _**over**_ something like that?!"

"Hmm, I dunno, I guess just like _**I'M**_ supposed to get over the fact that you _**KIDNAPPED**_ _**ME**_ when we were children?"

"Oh _**really**_ Ilosovic, you're still harping on that twenty-something years later? _Honestly_, you'd think you could come up with a _better_ point to argue-"

"_**A BETTER POINT TO ARGUE?! **_You stole most of my life from me you daft fool!"

Her beady eyes narrowed, "At least you had one Stayne. In case you'd _forgotten_, I was _forced_ to get married at just _fourteen_-"

I snorted, jerking the chain that bound us together spitefully, "Oh _please_! Don't make me _**laugh**_! You ran off with the Red King and you know it! Don't even _**try**_ to deny it!"

Anyone in Underland, whether they were alive at the time or not, could tell you that Iracebeth had eloped with the man that she ended up married to for _maybe_ three years, four at the most, before having his head chopped off in a fit of jealous rage. She had been under the suspicion that he was planning to leave her for Mirana, which everybody in the castle knew wasn't true, and after finding "evidence" of his betrayal, she ordered her former Knave of Hearts – _whose name I shall not speak because the fact that he is still alive and breathing angers me to no end – _to kill her innocent husband. Afterwards, she kicked him out and dragged me in, kicking and screaming. Literally.

"You see where that got us!" she hissed.

"Thank _**Heavens**_ you didn't manage to coerce _**me**_ into marrying you…who _knows_ where I'd be now!" how I'd avoided matrimony with this lunatic for as long as I have is still beyond me, but I don't think I've ever been more grateful in my entire existence, "On the other hand, _**ANYWHERE**_ would be better than here."

She gave me a mockingly flirtatious glance, "You know… I can still change that…"

"Keep dreaming…I'd chew my own arm off first…"

"We'll see who's dreaming when you go to sleep tonight…"

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

"Take it whichever way you please."

"A threat it is then!"

"_**See**_?!" she threw her arms into the air, "We already _**sound**_ like an old married couple, we might as well get it over with!" while she did have a point, I still wasn't buying it.

"Oh _**really**_!?" I shot back, "_Who's_ going to witness it? I don't see a _priest_ or a _chapel_ around here anywhere, do you? You can't _**possibly**_ be thinking of having a wedding with the two of us looking _**this**_ rough…" I pointedly noted her disheveled hair and the dirt already collecting on her skin. We hadn't been out her for an hour and already the harsh conditions were taking their toll on us.

Iracebeth sniffled, turning away from me, "Whatever, it's not like you'd marry me, even if we had all those things and I did look _pretty_…"

"Did it _**really**_ take you _**this**_ long to realize that? After everything you've done? To all these people? To _me_?"

"No, I knew that no one else would want me after what happened that night, but I always…hoped…that I was wrong…about you at least…" she sighed, laying her head on her knees, "_So much for hope…_"

I felt almost sorry for her…life had never been kind to this poor woman; her parents hated her and denied her the throne, everyone outside of Marmoreal made fun of her for being different from them, and she had made herself one of the most hated rulers in Underland history. She'd never known love, except for the Red King, and that was extremely short-lived…

Despite all our differences, we do have something in common…we've both lost the one person we loved most. She had taken her own heart and stabbed it, and then did the same to mine.

I'll never forget the Horunvendush Day Massacre…the day that I lost Luna Hightopp. She was killed in the blaze that engulfed the village in Witzend and wiped out their entire family except for the Hatter…and I never got to tell her goodbye. We'd been apart for nearly six years solid, and just when I had started to think we'd get to be together again, she was taken from me forever.

She left me utterly alone in this world; I have nothing left of her but painful memories and a silver locket of hers that I found in the wreckage of the fire. I had a feeling we were going to lose the battle with Mirana's army, so I smuggled the necklace out of the castle under my armor so that I'd have some relic of my lost life to hold onto, should I have had to flee or get banished. With my free hand, I reached into the collar of the chest plate and grabbed the chain, pulling the heart-shaped pendant over my head.

The black stone in the middle of its lid glimmered in the slowly fading sunlight, the silver shined like new. I opened the locket to reveal the tiny clock hidden inside, still ticking away even though its owner can no longer enjoy the precious minutes passing by without her. The engraving on the lid drew my attention only for a few, brief moments, my childhood nickname flashing across my eyes;

'Loci

Iracebeth turned from her sulking when the sun reflected light from the clock face into the corner of her eye, "_You_…you kept that all this time?" she whimpered.

Shooting daggers out of the one eye I could see her with, I replied "Well_** of course **_I did! It's not like _**Luna's**_ gonna need it anymore, thanks to _**you**_ and your _**Jabberbabywocky**_." I snarled with so much malice I could taste it.

She recoiled from me as far as she could, tears welling up in her eyes, "I…_I'm sorry._ I didn't _realize_ that-"

"Of course you didn't! You were too busy trying to force _**yourself**_ on me to know that I still love her! You wouldn't _**care**_ anyway! All you ever think of is _**yourself**_, Iracebeth!" suddenly a floodgate burst inside me, releasing years of pent-up anger and resentment, "You're _**nothing**_ but a spoiled brat who goes on a killing spree if she doesn't get her way! Well, I hate to burst your bubble, _**your**_ _**highness**_, but it's _**not**_ going to work out here!"

Between crocodile tears and her voice catching at every other word, she managed to retort, "You…you wouldn't be…s-saying this i-if we…were back at the c-castle!" Tears were streaming down her face by now, mixing with the sweat brought on by the heat of the unforgiving sun, and erasing all the makeup from her skin. Her face was fading to its original color, with bits and pieces of red here and there where her hair was plastered to her forehead.

Some _**Queen**_ she was…

"Of course not, because I'd be worried that you'd have me _executed_. I can say _**whatever**_ I bloody well _**please**_ out here! It's not like you'd be able to kill me _yourself_, you'd need one of your other _goons_ to do it for you. It takes a coward to kill somebody in cold blood in the first place, but ordering someone _else_ to do it instead is even _**lower**_."

I knew I'd hit home when she suddenly stopped sobbing and glowered up at me, "You…you don't understand. Benjamin…he was-"

"Your poor _**husband**_ was the best thing that ever happened to you, and you went and had him killed! Over something that _fool_ Thorne told you! He was lying to you, you _idiot_!" rising to my feet, I snatched Iracebeth up by the arm and pulled her toward me until we were face-to-face, "Every bit of this is _**your**_ fault. Nobody but _**you**_ caused all this."

"L-let me go Stayne!"

"_**No.**_" I barked, staring her down mercilessly. Almost all the rage in me left, however, when I saw her usual haughty and ruthless expression fade into fear and trembling. Although she very well deserved to be put in her place, I didn't feel right after seeing her like that. The only other time I'd ever seen that look on her face was when her parents were still around, and I very much wanted to forget any time that they'd instilled terror in every child in the castle.

I didn't know what I had planned to do with her when I grabbed her, but whatever it was quickly left my thoughts, and I released her wrist. She stumbled backwards a bit, clutching her arm tightly. With one final glance down at her, I turned and began striding off into the vast desert, not too sure of where I was heading.

"Wh-…where are you going?" she gathered up her dress and trotted after me, struggling to keep up with her much shorter legs and poor taste in traveling attire. It wouldn't be too much longer now before those high-heeled shoes of hers come off…

"My father told me of a people that live out here in these sands; he said that they were peaceful nomads, willing to help anyone in a spot of trouble. I intend to find said people and get these _**blasted**_ shackles off so I can find my way out of here. Or die trying."

"But what about _me_? You wouldn't _**leave**_me out here alone, _would_ you?"

"Try my patience anymore and I just might."

She was relatively quiet for the rest of the day as we trekked over the sand dunes, only whining once or twice about the heat or not having anything to eat or drink. I often had to pick her up off the ground because she'd tripped over the now torn hem of her dress, or because she'd collapsed in a sobbing heap. It took several tries, but I finally got the message through to her that crying wasn't going to solve anything, and she needed to dry up the waterworks if she wanted to get out of here.

By the time the sun began to set, Iracebeth's much slower pace was lagging so much that we might as well have been walking backwards, "Ilosovic, can't we stop for tonight? My feet can't take anymore walking…" at one point when we'd stopped, she'd grown tired of her dress entangling her feet and had ripped the fabric off from the knee down. Most of it was wrapped around the soles of her feet, in place of her now discarded shoes. All of her hair was unpinned and falling around her shoulders in red waves. She'd wiped every drop of makeup off her face, leaving streaks of blue, red and black on her cheeks and the back of her hand.

"Might as well, I don't really fancy traveling at night with no weapons." After my foolish attempt on her life, I'd lost my dagger to the point of Tarrant Hightopp's well-placed hatpin, "There's a cave over there we can use for shelter. In the morning we'll keep going."

She peeked around me hopefully, "Maybe there's something in there we can use to get these cuffs off." Now she was pulling me towards our potential abode. Both of us were praying that we would soon be free of each other, in one sense at least.

The mouth of the cave gaped open, the dying light not penetrating very deep inside it. I was wary of going in, since we couldn't see that far beyond the opening, but we didn't have any other options present, "Get behind me. You won't last three seconds if something pops out of there."

No sooner had the words come out of my mouth, than a dark woman draped in beads and flowing cloth stepped from the shadows, followed by a hulking man in a brilliant robe. Iracebeth stopped short, but I managed to fall all over myself and tried to reach for my nonexistent sword. For this, I received a scornful grin from my fellow prisoner.

"Dere is no need to fea' us. We will not hahm you, if you do not hahm us." She had grey eyes and short, dark brown hair that was braided into tiny strands. Her bronze skin was covered in a web of black swirling lines, and the crown that perched atop her head seemed to meld with them. The man beside her was bald with golden eyes, the same lines winding around his body and a matching crown.

"We 'ave been expecting you. You ah a bit early, actually." The man spoke with a deep rumbling voice, but despite his broad stature and bass tone, he didn't give off a very threatening air.

While I was still tongue-tied, Iracebeth timidly asked, "W-who are you? How did you know we were coming?"

The woman smiled, "I am Allura, Witch Queen of de Outlanders. Dis is my brodah Danzia, de Shaman King. We ah practiced in de magic arts, so it is not difficult for us to see t'ings dat 'ave yet to 'appen…much like de Oraculum's guardian, Absolem." I now realized that she was putting some of her weight on a wooden cane, with beads and ribbons decorating its length. A large white stone was tied to the handle, giving off a faint glow in the approaching moonlight.

"We 'ave prepared dis cave fo' one of you, but de otha must return to dere home." Danzia gazed thoughtfully at the two of us, as if he didn't know which of us would be staying here and which wouldn't, "Fo' only one of you 'as a home to return to…"

Iracebeth spoke again, "Who is to stay here? Who's going home?" she looked like she expected to be the one who'd get to go back to a more comfortable lifestyle.

Allura came forward, her bare feet sinking into the grey sand, and held out her free hand to her, "You, Red Queen, will be staying in dis cave. Dere is plenty o' food and wader inside, and whateva else you may need." She then turned to me, still sitting on the ground, "As fo' you, Knave of 'earts, come de morning, you must go ahn home. To Marmoreal, wheah you belong."

I was dumbstruck, not only by where she thought '_home_' was, but by the fact that our bindings had completely vanished, "Marmoreal probably isn't the best idea. Mirana banished me here and seeing as how she's the Queen-"

"We 'ave already spoken with 'er…she knows you ah comin'. She remembered dat you were a spy fo' de resistance…"

The Red Queen spun around in disbelief, "_**You**_?! _**You**_ were the spy in the castle?!"

"I warned you that you should've left me alone. Don't sound so surprised."

"_You_…I can't believe you would _**betray**_ me like that!" that was a ludicrous accusation if I'd ever heard one. She had to be joking!

"Well you'd better believe it. I had no reason to be loyal to you behind your back…and it should've been evident the first time I tried to escape!" dusting myself off, I finally rose to my feet.

"That was years ago! I never thought you'd have kept working for my wretched sister all this time!" she shrieked, "How did you get information to her? You rarely ever left the castle!"

"I wasn't the _only_ spy in your palace. You really should've been more careful when you chose your courtiers and guards."

Her jaw dropped in horror, no sound escaping except for indignant gasps and snarls. As though she thought I would come running after her, begging for forgiveness, she spun around and flounced into the cave with a final, "Hmph!"

The remaining three of us just stood and watched, shaking our heads. This woman was really something else…

"You 'ad betta get some rest…you 'ave a long journey ahead o' you. Try not to venture to fa' back in de cave though, it don' look like she wants yo' company so much anymore." Allura warned me, taking her brother by the arm and walking away from the cavern, "Be cautious of de company _**you**_ choose to keep in de future…dere is a great evil approaching, and it will come from a place close by yo' 'eart…" before I could ask her what she meant, the two of them vanished in a puff of pure white smoke.

Despite her last remark leaving an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, I strode inside the hollowed out rock and found a somewhat comfortable place near the entrance. With my cape as a blanket and a large stone as a pillow, I fell into a fitful sleep to the sound of Iracebeth muttering and blubbering about the mess she'd gotten us into.

I remember dreaming something strange that night, something that, at the time, I'd chalked up to the paranoia caused by the Witch Queen's prophecy…but I now know was a bad omen of things to come.

Ten porcelain dolls lay shattered and scattered about on a cold, bleak floor. They were all different sizes; half were girls, half were boys, all were wearing white, and the only color in the picture was their eyes. In an odd way, it appeared that the larger dolls were on top of some of the smaller ones, as if they were shielding them from something. There was an eleventh doll; she wore a long black dress, had straight black hair, and had not a scratch on her. She sat in the middle of the others, her crimson eyes staring into mine with a cruel smile on her tiny red lips, "_Hello Daddy…have you come to play?_"


	2. Time Can be Funny in Dreams

_**Chapter One –**_

_**Time Can be Funny in Dreams**_

The span of years seems to stretch into eternity when Time has come to a standstill. He doesn't take too kindly to anyone who tries to kill him, especially not repeat offenders like me. After Alice left us the first time, I had made an attempt on his life out of pure boredom…I hadn't meant anything by it, I just had nothing better to do while I waited for her to come back.

This was different though; she had come back and set everything right and no sooner had she returned than she was gone again. She had promised to come back. She hadn't promised the first time she'd come, but the second time she did, "_I'll be back again before you know it._" Those were her exact words before she vanished into her world.

It had been so long since she said those words; I'd lost count of the days. I only knew that years had passed because of the others stopping by periodically to check on me. They had all aged, though only slightly, only someone who knew them like I do would notice. You see, on this go around, Time decided to stop only moments before teatime, so Mally and Thackery hadn't arrived for my tea party yet. And the party hasn't happened either. I've been sitting here in this chair, all alone, for years, waiting for the clock to strike the hour that the tea is to be served and the other refreshments consumed. But it never does. I haven't eaten since she left, but hunger has yet to fall upon me. I suppose that has something to do with all the food I have built up the ten years prior to this; maybe after a decade-long tea party I've simply lost my appetite altogether. Who knows? It may take another ten years to feel hunger again…maybe longer. Maybe I never will.

All I know is that I've never felt this empty before. Not like this.

My family and my home being destroyed in that fire left a different kind of hole inside of me; I had lost something I could never get back. Nothing could change that. This pain I felt now was something else entirely. I had lost something…someone… but there was a possibility that it... _**she**_…would return to me, but I never knew for certain if she would. It was a desperate hope that nothing had changed, that nothing had prevented her from keeping her promise.

It was fear that she wouldn't. Couldn't.

"_Oh Alice…please come back. Please come home…_" I would beg the stars that dotted the evening sky's horizon. Night never fell, and I never slept. Dreams avoided me at all costs, and nightmares never plagued me. Alice couldn't hear me from down here. Even I knew that….my madness hadn't taken all of my reason from me. Part of it still held on as tight as it could, though its hold was often fleeting.

Sighing, my breath stirred the dust coating the cups and teapots strewn over the table. My hands, resting on my legs, twitched impulsively when my ears picked up on the sound of hooves and enormous paws trumping through the forest in front of me. My once green eyes that had since faded to grey blinked once before finding themselves staring at the White Queen atop a horse, with the Bandersnatch following close behind.

"Hello Hatter." She smiled warmly as she dismounted.

Fearing that my voice had left me after so long, I cleared my throat before replying, "Good evening, your majesty. Care for a cup of tea?" I offered her a cup that had dried up a long time ago. Nothing was left of the beverage except a dark ring around the inside of the cup.

Her smile diminished slightly, "It's not quite that time yet dear. And besides, I've come here with news for you." She stood at the end of the table, her pale hands clasped behind her back.

"Good or bad?"

"Wonderful, actually. We received a few guests the other day that I think you'll be glad to see…" Mirana was beaming now, "Your parents and your cousin Christian arrived in Marmoreal yesterday. Christian is married to Zada now, and they have a son."

I could almost feel the color coming back to me; my eyes were no longer steely and blank, but the shade of green was pale compared to their normal shade. My clothing, once drooping and limp, stood on end and became brighter, "They're alive? They're all alive?" no other words could materialize. My family was alive.

She nodded, "They were under the impression that you…" she paused before going on, "were lost in the fire. It wasn't until after the Frabjous Day that they learned you were still alive."

Now I was at a loss for words…_**they**_ thought _**I **_was dead? What else did they think? Who else had survived?

"They would like you to join them in Marmoreal; you have a lot of catching up to do." Mirana beckoned for the Bandersnatch, and he stood next to her and her horse, "And besides that, someone else will be along shortly that would like to see you too…"

I stood, eyeing her suspiciously, "Who else is coming?"

She smiled coyly, mounting her horse and taking the reigns, "Alice."

My heart rate shot through the roof, all the dust flew off the tableware, and the color flooded back into me, "Well then! What're we doing just sitting here?"

"I thought you might say that."

We soon arrived in Marmoreal, the Queen trailing behind me and the Bandersnatch. I wasted no time dismounting and racing inside, hoping to run into one of my family members. As soon as I entered the courtyard, they were all that I saw; my mother, my father, Christian, his wife, and a little boy of no more than six years old. His scarlet eyes widened in shock at first, his mouth agape, and then he scurried behind his mother and hid in her skirts. Zada scolded him lightly, laughing as she pulled him out and onto her lap where he curled up and hid his face in her shoulder.

My mother, Rosalynn, was the first to speak over the stunned silence, "Tarrant? Is that really you my boy?" she had aged much since I'd last seen her; the lines on her face were more pronounced, her hair was lighter, and her slight form was much frailer. My father, Samuel, was the same way. Christian and Zada had not aged a day; they'd only gotten taller and had filled out some. Her hair was shorter than I remembered it though.

"Y-yes Mum…it's me." My hands were shaking and my heart was beating a mile a minute. They were really here…all of them.

She pulled me into a smothering embrace as tears began to flow freely between us. Father soon joined us, but my cousins held back until there was more of an opening for them. Christian introduced me to his son Remy, who had just turned five years old, and had lost his first tooth a few days ago. The boy proudly displayed the empty space in his mouth, as the bigger tooth hadn't begun to grow in yet.

"Cousin Tarrant? Do you have any kids? There's a lot of kids in the village we live in in Nidaria." Little Remy asked innocently.

My breath hitched a little, but I did reply, "No…not yet." I went on, "Hopefully, someday…soon… I will." Satisfied by my answer, he took off to play in the courtyard with his father. I remembered when my father and I did the same, right in this very same palace, though it was many years ago. He obviously did too, judging by the way he stood by me and watched them with a wistful smile.

"Makes you miss the old days, don't it son?" he clapped his hand on my shoulder and shook his head, "Why, I remember you and Stayne's boy, and Christian out here, bedeviling the girls because they wouldn't have nothin' to do with the lot of ya." We both chuckled at the bittersweet memories. Some of the people in them were no longer with us…or so I thought.

"Hatter?" Mirana broke me out of my reverie, "There's one more person that's here that you might want to see…"

I barely recognized the Knave when I first saw him; there was no way this was the same person I'd seen on the Frabjous Day! The man that lay before me was sickly pale and almost as thin as the sheets that covered him. His black hair was tangled and matted, wildly falling around his bony shoulders. His ragged, shallow breathing was often punctuated by sharp coughs and groans of pain. Stayne's once shiny black and red uniform was now tattered and torn; his bloody and bruised skin showed through the tears and rips. The one familiar thing on him was the scar on his left eye – minus the eye patch. It didn't really look that bad uncovered, not like I thought it would have, "What's happened to you?"

His eyes opened slowly at the sound of my voice, "_Tarrant_…is that you?" he whispered, still hoarse from dehydration. I could scarcely believe that this was the same Knave that I knew; he looked so pitiful.

I struggled to find my own voice to answer him, "Y-yes…it's me…" I was almost afraid to come any closer to him, but Mirana nudged me forward, "How long have you been here?" I asked for lack of a better question. Asking him if he was ok or how he was feeling was kind of redundant.

"I don't know honestly. I've been, I guess you could say, '_out of it_' since I got here." he sighed, lifting a bandaged hand to brush his hair out of his eyes.

"His father brought him here six months ago. Then he returned to Queast to inform everyone that the war was over." The Queen told me, sliding her hand onto my shoulder, "He sent messengers out to the other kingdoms, and that's how your family came to be here." she added.

"_Your_…_**my**_…?! Our parents are here?! They're _alive_!?" Stayne tried to sit up, but he quickly regretted that, "Ow, ow!" he yelped, lying back down.

"Yes, well…mine are at least. They're all fine. Heh…the funny thing is that they thought we were dead! Imagine that!" he chuckled.

"Oh the irony…" the Knave shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Oh…Christian and Zada are here too. They have a little boy now…Remy. He's his father's son, no doubt!"

This resulted in snickers, "Just what Underland needs…two of _**him**_! You remember how he was, don't you Mirana?"

It was hard not to remember Christian as a boy; long-legged, scrawny, orange-yellow eyes, shaggy dark green hair and always up to no good, "Yes, of course. How could I forget? he's older than you, isn't he Tarrant?" she chuckled, probably thinking about the mischief that he used to get into in our youth.

"Yes, only about two years between us though."

"And he makes _**him**_ look sane."

"That's an understatement if I ever heard one." a third voice chimed from the doorway behind us, none other than Christian himself, of course.

"I see you haven't changed a bit…" Stayne noted.

"Seems you _**have**_. I just can't leave either of you on your own, can I? One of you tries to kill Time _twice_ and the other gets thrown in the Outlands!" we all knew he was kidding, but he wasn't wrong either. Not that _he's_ the perfect role model or anything.

"I'm afraid your supervision and guidance wouldn't have done too much good."

"Probably would've done worse."

He rolled his eyes, but didn't object to the accusations, "Alright, you got a point. But honestly, how much worse off could _you_ have been?" he looked pointedly at the Knave.

Stayne shrugged, "Until I got brought back here, not much. You can't do much worse than the Outlands. Especially if you shouldn't be there." He was clearly aiming that comment at the Queen, but she pretended not to notice.

We'd all thought he'd dropped his ties to the Resistance long ago, so at the time of the Frabjous Day battle, none of us questioned his banishment. It was only after it was revealed that he'd been the informant inside the walls of Crims all along that Mirana sent out word that he needed to be rescued. Evidently, the size of the Outlands was so immense that it took his father and a whole battalion of soldiers _**years**_ to pinpoint where he'd ended up. According to what Alexander Stayne had told her majesty, Iracebeth was nowhere to be found, and the shackles that had bound them together were completely gone when they found him. He had no clue where she was, and had no intentions of trying to find her…all he knew was that he was finally rid of her, and he was glad of it. And he was finally home again.

A short, tense silence had fallen over the four of us, and Mirana decided to be the one to break it, "At any rate, we're all back where we belong. I suppose you'd better drink up that healing elixir Ilosovic. You'll need your health and energy back for this evening."

We all turned to look at her, "What do you mean by that?" he took the small bottle beside him and tipped it back, slowly swallowing the blue liquid.

"We'll be having a considerably larger amount of company. I've decided to hold a grand ball in honor of Alice's return tomorrow, and I'm sure there will be a few people that would like to see you…before your trip to Overland."

The three of us were dumbfounded, "_**He's**_ going to Overland?"

"Why am _**I**_ going? If you're sending _**me**_ for Alice, I can almost promise she won't be too thrilled to see me, and I doubt she'd come back with me." Normal color was returning to his skin, his wounds began to seal themselves together; the protruding bones became less prominent.

"You and Tarrant are both going. Strange things have been going on with the Portals, so it's too risky to send only one person. We want to make sure she gets here safely."

I was almost too excited about bringing her back to notice the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that something dreadful was looming in the not too distant future…


	3. Bittersweet Reunions

_**Chapter Two –**_

_**Bittersweet Reunions**_

_**T**_he Clubs were the first to arrive for the grand ball, given that they were the closest to Marmoreal and had no serious geographical hurdles to jump over. The soldiers' purple and silver uniforms looked as though they were meant for intimidation. They each had a sword that appeared similar to the Vorpal Blade and their armor was thin, but I had a feeling it would take a lot to pierce it. The civilians all had long dark hair, and eyes the color of the dawn. Their king was wearing a deep violet robe that was trimmed in silver, and his long black and grey hair was trailing down his shoulder in a thick braid. He grinned broadly when he caught sight of the White Queen, "Ah Mirana! How long it's been!" he stepped out of his amethyst and grey carriage and bowed as she approached.

"We're so glad you could make it Sunyi…it has been quite a while since we've all been called together hasn't it?"

"We were much younger, the last time I recall…"

Still somewhat mesmerized by the sea of indigo and silver, I scanned the crowd for a particular person, "There's Saleen, right over there. See the big grey horse?" I nodded toward a hulking Appaloosa with a mane and tail that almost touched the ground that was following behind the other carriages. Indeed, there was a rather petite lady sitting on its back, her dark brown hair nearly as long as her horse's.

"Oh!" Tarrant waved to her to get her attention.

Saleen soon spotted us and immediately leapt off her horse, "Ahh! 'Losovic! What are you doing here, I thought you were with Iracebeth?!" her voice had a heavy accent, and even though she was hardly taller than the last time I'd seen her, she managed to get her arms around my neck.

"Well thanks to my father I'm not. He found me and brought me back here."

Her eyes, bright pinkish-purple orbs, widened, "Your dad? He's alive?"

I nodded, "Yeah…well…that's what everyone's told me. I haven't seen him yet though."

"Ah…surely he is here though, if they say he brought you back home." She tried to reassure me, "And just think, with all of us back here, it'll be like the good old days! We can duel together; the girls can use you as a practice dummy…"

"Hey, hey, hey!" I jumped to my own defense, "The only reason you beat me that one time is because _**somebody**_ was distracting me…" I turned and stared pointedly at the Hatter, who then proceeded to look in the same direction, even though no one was beside him.

"I've no idea what he's talking about…" Tarrant chuckled.

Just as I was about to remind him, another platoon of soldiers paraded across the drawbridge, all covered in spikes and decked in forest green and gold. Unlike the Clubs civilians, who were willowy and had hair down to at least their knees, the Spades (_I guessed, judging by the insignia on army's breastplates_) were short and stocky with shaggy, coarse hair that came in all shades of orange, green, yellow, and browns. Their eyes were the same hues, and their clothes were ragged and worn, like they'd been working outdoors all day. The people were mostly very bulky, and rather short men, with a few women (_well they __**looked**__ like women_) here and there.

Their king was a stocky, sinewy looking fellow. His eyes were a dusty gold-like color, and his hair was a pale grassy green. He had a deep, booming voice that startled me when he first spoke out, "How grand it is to return to Marmoreal! I trust that my two good friends are well, Mirana, Sunyi?" he thundered, though I didn't catch the rest of their conversation.

"I wonder where Elias is." Saleen nudged me with her elbow, "Last I heard of him, he was still the _Knave_ of Spades…"

"He's the Knight now…I saw it happen." Christian corrected her.

"Hmm, not bad for the runt of the litter…took him long enough, eh?"

"I don't really have any room to talk about that…I'm still not a knight." Shrugging, I searched for him in the midst of the others "Eli was only a knave for a year, so he actually beat both of us."

"Methinks my ears are burnin'…you lot wouldn't be talkin' about me, now would ya?" a lanky young boy, probably five or six at the most, called as he leapt off a thick-built Palomino and strutted to our small gathering. His hair was light gold, and his eyes sparkled blue.

"We wouldn't be if you didn't give us so much to talk about."

"Congrats on being made a knight pipsqueak. What brave and noble deed got you in?" I thumped him on the back.

"Oi, take it easy on me! I'm still a mite sore from it…" Elias rolled his shoulder before continuing, "Had to help ward off a horde of bluddy Mome Raths…they were eatin' everythin' in sight! Everythin' that didn't move, that is."

Saleen suddenly began laughing, "_Mome Raths?!_ You got knighted because you helped get rid of some _Mome Raths?!_" she giggled.

From what I've seen of them, Mome Raths aren't much of a serious threat; they're only about four inches tall and fuzzy, with big round eyes and they make little squeaking noises. Despite the fact that they eat almost anything, they're actually kind of cute. I didn't quite get how someone could be knighted for doing away with such tiny creatures.

"Well a bunch of 'em latched onto the king and I got 'em off for 'im. All without tearing any fabric on his precious suit." he grumbled, "Used a sword to cut 'em off. Not a nick or a snag, not a one!"

"_**Oh**_, _**great**_ and _**mighty**_ slayer of the vicious _**Mome Rath**_ beasts!" the Hatter mocked him, "How our deeds of heroism _**pale**_ in comparison to you, oh _**marvelous**_-"

"Alright! Alright Mr. Hightopp! Lay off it…" Eli punched him lightly on the shoulder; "At least _**I**_ can fend something off that's _**smaller**_ than me with a _**sword**_!" he nodded in my direction.

"I hope you aren't referring to yourself when you were about knee-high, because that was a _**long**_ time ago."

"Not too long ago, if it's your knees you're referrin' to…_ruddy beanpole_." both he and Saleen gave me teasing glances before turning to the third army marching over the drawbridge. Their ruby red and shimmering gold crystal soldiers stood out against the alabaster backdrop of the castle walls and the aura of authority surrounded the whole group of them. Their queen sat tall in her carriage, her young face was bright with a serene smile, while most of her subjects looked haughty and stuck-up, "Good evening everyone…sorry we're late! There was a borogrove migration that blocked the road between Queast and Tulgey Wood, so we had to wait for them to pass." she greeted the other monarchs as she descended from her coach.

"Not at all Rubi! We wouldn't have started without you!" Mirana embraced the other queen like it'd been ages since they'd seen each other.

Everyone groaned with displeasure when Saleen pointed out the fact that it was the Diamonds approaching the entrance.

"Why so eager to see them?" the Hatter asked, perplexed by our disdain.

"Don't you remember?"

"_**Arondight**_ _**Thorne**_…"

He was still slightly confused, "Who's he? Is he the king or something?"

"He _thinks_ he is. He's the Knight of Diamonds…and an arrogant, snobby, bratty, immature-" I began the tirade that snowballed from there.

"Sneaky, trifling, hateful-" Christian continued.

"Good-for-nothing, bothersome git." Eli spat, "He also happens to be trying to woo Saleen, and he ain't doin' too bad so far!" he winked at the female knight, and only narrowly dodged her swinging fist.

I glanced up from laughing at their antics and met the stony brown gaze of an armored man riding on the back of a Clydesdale that was covered in gold and red silk from its head to its tail. He had a scar running across his right eye that was strikingly similar to mine, though it was on the opposite side, and his right eye was slightly lighter-colored than his left.

"That's him."

"Oh yes, I remember him. Used to be knave under the Red Queen, before you Ilosovic, right?"

"Well, he's the former Knave of Hearts now, but he's going to be the former Knight of Diamonds soon too. I've heard that they were finally gonna give ol' Thorne the boot here soon, but I don't think they've found somebody to take over after him…" Eli sounded almost excited that Arondight was soon to be the ex-Knight.

"Yeah…I don't believe he's too thrilled about it…but it's high time that he's tossed out." I smiled triumphantly, "And plus I don't think Queen Rubi particularly likes him anyway, so it's not like it bothers her that he's irked."

"Tell her to join the club…" everyone chorused.

"Well I'm glad you're all _**happy**_ to see me. I assure you the feeling's _**mutual**_." a gruff voice snapped from beside Saleen. The whole group shifted the opposite direction, some of them gasping in shock.

Sure enough, Arondight Thorne was right there…and he was twice as unpleasant up close. He just looked downright hateful.

"_Thorne_." I snarled in greeting. There was only one person I hated more than the Red Queen…and it was him.

A devilish sneer slithered its way onto Thorne's face, "Well, _well_, _**well**_…_**Ilosovic**_ _**Stayne**_. It seems that someone needs to inform the Queen that there's a _**rat**_ running loose in the castle…" he hissed.

Everyone stared at him in disbelief, "_**Excuse**_ me? I don't believe I heard you right…" I continued to stare him down, "_**What**_ was that you just said? Wanna run it by me again?" I challenged.

He jeered gleefully, "No, I'm afraid you heard me correctly. Is there something you want to do about it?"

Glowering at him defiantly, I turned and stormed off into the castle, "You aren't worth the effort it would take to get my point across."

Of course, we didn't have that kind of time either, since most of us were riding out to get Alice from the Looking-Glass Portal in the morning and needed our sleep. Falling into an uneasy silence, our group turned and trotted off to the castle doors, leaving Saleen and Arondight behind. She had been the only one who'd greeted him amicably… and she hadn't greeted him at all.

The palace was now filled to the brim with people milling about and catching up with old friends that they hadn't seen since before the war broke out. Families were reunited with one another, lovers embraced like it had been centuries since they'd been together, and cries of "Mummy" and "Daddy" rang out from children who had been separated from their parents. The atmosphere was swimming with a feeling of relief and joy that all of these people had survived a skirmish that had ripped the land apart.

There was also a twinge of sadness for those who had been lost, like most of Tarrant's family and until this point; it was presumed that my parents were gone as well. My heart sunk every time I saw a couple kiss passionately, or a mother and father crying tears of joy with their child nestled between them.

"Are you alright?" Mirana tugged lightly on my arm. I only nodded; smiling sadly as I searched the crowd for someone we both knew wasn't there. She too watched in vain, hoping for my sake that we were wrong, that any moment Luna Hightopp would come running out of nowhere and surprise me.

"Don't worry about me majesty…I'll…I'll be fine." Sighing, I trudged off into the sea of people.

She knew very well that I was on the verge of tears, but nodded, "Alright, but I'm staying with you for now, just to keep you company."

"I appreciate it Mirana…now at least I won't have to deal with-"

"_Me_ while you're alone?" Thorne finished my sentence for me with a vicious sneer.

"Yes, _**you**_." I scowled down at him, "I didn't want to see you 'because I'm not in the mood to duel with anyone right now…so if you want something besides that, out with it."

"Ah yes; I simply wanted to congratulate your majesty on your victory against the Jabberwocky. Not many _**Overlanders**_ are used to such battles; Miss Alice handled that very well. Not to mention she was so young at the time…" his tone was as condescending as the look on his smug face.

"Oh, it was nothing really. Most _**Overlanders**_ are pretty level-headed in stressful situations like that. Especially the young ladies; they always know precisely what they're doing." she shot back boldly.

"Mmhmm…I see…well I shan't bother you anymore tonight. Fairfarren, for now, your highness… and Stayne." Thorne bowed before strutting off into the crowd.

"Hmph." I mumbled.

"My sentiments exactly."

"And y'know what the _best_ part is? He's _always_ that pleasant."

"I recall that much. He never was very friendly."

"Tell me about it…he's been that way as long as I can remember. I don't know who spit in his tarts, but I sure would like to find them and give them a piece of my mind!" my arms were crossed over my chest.

She giggled, "For what? Spitting on the tarts?" I cracked a small, half-hearted smile.

"So what's the plan for tomorrow exactly? Who's going to get Alice in the morning?" Saleen suddenly appeared beside me; Elias soon followed, equally as eager.

As we slowly wove through the crowd, the outline of the next day was laid out for us, "Well everyone that wants to can come to the Portal in the Garden of Live Flowers , but only two of you are going through to bring her back…those two being, the Hatter, and you Stayne. They're the ones she's most likely to remember without stepping back into Underland, or at least we hope so."

"What if she doesn't remember either of them? Will they still bring her back?"

"She'll get all her memories back when she returns. Ilosovic and Tarrant will look quite a bit different than they do now; since they're time traveling as well as traveling to a different world, they have to look the part."

"Is…this safe?" Saleen grasped at the hem of my cape.

The White Queen smiled, "Completely. But if something _**did**_ come up, they could handle themselves _**quite**_ well. Couldn't you?"

I scoffed, "Yeah, I'm sure we can." We had climbed the grand staircase and stopped to watch the churning mass of people, when I stopped abruptly and stared out into the crowd, "_Wait…that couldn't be…_"

All of them followed me, trying to figure out what or who I was watching so intently. It was hard to pick out the people that we knew, much less follow my gaze among the sea of strangers.

"Stayne, who are you looking at? Do you see somebody?" Eli asked.

My eyes felt as wide as teacup saucers, my mouth hanging slightly open. In shock, I gripped the banister and almost stumbled the rest of the way to the floor. People stepped aside as I moved forward, and the crowd parted for someone else too…

A tall, slender woman with long silvery hair, dressed in red, white, and gold was slowly making her way towards us. Her eyes were a crystal blue, and even from where I was I could see them brimming with tears. As the first of them spilled over her lashes, it finally dawned on me who she was.

"_Mom_?"

She nodded, coming still closer, "Yes Ilosovic, it's me…"

Now I was tearing up too, "Is…is Dad here too? Or…?"

"He's here. And Tarrant's mother and father are as well." my mother reached out and embraced me like she would never let go. The two of us almost sank to the ground, both nearly collapsing from pure joy, "I'm so glad you're alright…we thought we'd lost you when we heard Iracebeth got banished. We thought surely you'd been sent with her-"

"He almost was." A man, who could only be described as me in about thirty years or so, approached from behind her, "If I hadn't seen him on my patrol, that's exactly where he'd be."

We locked eyes for a moment before he spoke directly to me, "Hello son. You look a lot better than you did when I found you." He was smiling; I could tell even under his thick moustache that his lips were curled up at the ends.

"You can thank Mirana for that. She healed me almost completely just this morning, I still feel a little sick though." I stood up straight to face him. Perhaps it was just my nerves about tomorrow making me feel ill, but then again it could still possibly be from crawling through the merciless desert of the Outlands for three years with barely enough food and water to survive.

The former Red Queen, I'm supposing out of guilt, rationed out some of her supplies from the cave and laid them next to me while I was still asleep. When I'd left her the next morning, she watched me pack them with the ones that Allura and Danzia had left in the night.

Her fire had gone out, her hair was completely down, and she was partially covered in sand from the floor we'd both slept on, "Goodbye Stayne." She had said in a groggy tone.

I'd paused briefly in the mouth of the cave without looking back, "Goodbye Iracebeth." I nodded curtly before striding out across the dunes. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the extra food and drinks, I probably wouldn't have made it. I couldn't believe it, but I probably now owe my life to the woman who ruined it in the first place.

"You'll be alright after tomorrow. A trip to Overland will fix just about any ailment." Dad put an arm around Mom, and a hand on my shoulder, "I talked with Absolem earlier, he said not to worry."

I had heard that rumor before; if you're mortally wounded in Underland, you can be Portaled to Overland and you'll come out good as new, and vice versa. It's believed that this is caused by some of the protective charms placed on the Looking-Glasses that are used to keep danger on its respective side of the Mirror…nobody knows for sure though.

"Despite what the Butterfly may have said," Tarrant and his mother and father appeared beside us, "I'm still _**very**_ worried. I've heard rumors that smoke creatures have been sighted around _**all**_ the Portals." Rosalynn said. This was the first I'd heard of any of this, and it certainly didn't help me calm down at all.

"Smoke creatures? What is she talking about?" my father too seemed concerned about the demonesque beings that could threaten our voyage.

The White Queen interrupted before a frenzy could begin, "Nothing to worry about now, they've been sent back where they came from, and should not return." She herded all of us together and tried to send us upstairs, "At any rate, you all need to get to bed. Those of you that are going to the Portal tomorrow need to be up bright and early in the morning to get there in time."

McTwisp, who was leading another small party towards the corridors where all the bedrooms were, paused beside me, "Especially _**you**_, since you're going through it with Tarrant, Ilosovic. You have a few more preparations to be made, so I'll be coming by to get you up."

Unable to help myself, I smirked and shot back, "Don't be _late_." He only shook his head and bounded ahead of us.

As we ascended the flight of steps, Saleen posed a question that hadn't even really crossed my mind, "Um…your highness? Are there enough rooms for _**all**_ of these people?"

Eli piped up as well, "Is your castle really big enough to house four kingdoms of people? No offense, but it doesn't look like it…" he added sheepishly.

"There are several other hallways around the palace with spare rooms, however, should those not be sufficient, there is a charm on each of the halls that will allow them to expand indefinitely until the lodging requirements are met. All of the rooms will modify themselves to fit the inhabitant's needs as well." She replied, as if this was a common practice to have extension spells on one's house that change to suit your fancy, "And of course, for all of you, the rooms you inhabited when we were children have been reserved especially for you." She added.

The Hatter looked up and down the hall, as if he were searching for something or someone, "Do you remember where your room is?" he glanced up at me.

I filed through my memories, finally recalling the way to the bedroom I used to sleep in as a young boy, "Yes…I remember…"

The White Queen smiled warmly, "It hasn't been used since you left…I knew you'd return to it someday."

"I'm glad _**someone **_did…if it hadn't been for my dad, that room still would've been empty tonight."

"Tonight maybe, but one day you'd be found there again…" she replied cryptically. What was that supposed to mean?

"Who told you that?" I was thoroughly confused; there was no guarantee that if I'd stayed with Iracebeth that I would've survived the Outlands, and here her sister is saying that I would've come back to Marmoreal after the fact! "How do you mean?"

"Oh," she had a look that suggested that she knew something that no one else did, "a little birdie told me…" she began to glide towards her end of the hallway.

"_And I'd be willing to bet that 'bird' is blue, three inches high and smokes a hookah…_" I muttered to myself. I knew it had to have been Absolem; no one other than him would know of the future so well.

When I started off in the opposite direction to go to bed, to the room I'd been wishing I could return to since I was first kidnapped, I felt a slight tug on my arm, "It's good to have you back, all of you…" Mirana said kindly, reminding everyone that we were truly back in the safe haven of Marmoreal, where we belonged.

"It's good to _**be**_ back, majesty…" Samuel took his wife by the arm, and followed their son to their rooms down the hall. My parents said their goodnights and went into the room across from mine, and then I went into my own.

It'd been so long since I'd been here, the room was almost unrecognizable. All the white, blue and silver had me woozy, my eyes being so used to black, red and gold. It felt so much roomier and lighter than the enclosed and claustrophobic rooms in Iracebeth's castle; it wasn't so dark and gloomy either.

All of the furniture was exactly the same as it'd been that fateful night I was dragged out the window and into the misery that was the next twenty-some years of my life…none of it had moved an inch. Granted, it was cleaner than I'd left it, on the other hand. Having been no more than a child when I was taken, my room was notorious for looking like a tornado had blown through it almost all the time. Now it was at least decently clean, aside from a little dust here and there and ashes still lying in the hearth from a long-dead fire.

"I never thought there was a place I could miss so much, until I was snatched away from here…Finally, I'm really home now." I sighed, "_If only Luna were here…_"

As late as it was, there was nothing my tired body wanted more than to pull back the covers of the bed and have a decent night's sleep for the first time in ages. In Crims, there was no such thing, what with the Red Queen's constant ranting and raving day and night. And in the Outlands it was totally out of the question.

Mirana had one of her servants set up a mannequin in the corner of my room closest to the fireplace, so that I would have somewhere to lay my armor when I wasn't wearing it. Making full use of this was my top priority, so the chest plate and cape were off quicker than I'd put them on. The next thing I felt on my skin was the silvery silk nightshirt and the satin of she sheets around me.

This is the life I've been missing!

Finally at peace, I closed my eyes and dreamt of nothing.

The dawn came far too early; I had years of restless nights to catch up on. Just as I was about to shut my eyes and drift back to sleep though, the door creaked open slowly and the White Rabbit poked his head inside, "Ready to go?"

"I suppose. C'mon, let's go then." Sliding from beneath the warmth of the comforters, I

grabbed the clothes that had been laid out for me and pulled them on. I then followed McTwisp down the hall to get Tarrant.

The Hatter was already dressed and ready to leave by the time we got to his room, and was standing there waiting on us, "What took you so long?" he tapped his foot impatiently. He was wearing a suit similar to his usual one, but it was clearly thicker than the other. His hat was perched were it always was, just minus his assortment of sewing implements. Even his skin had changed in order to blend in better with the Overlanders, but his eyes remained the same.

"Sorry, I was way too comfortable. I'm gonna go straight back to bed when we come back." We all laughed. I didn't look too different that I normally did, the only indicator that I wasn't my usual self was my outfit and the fact that I was about two feet shorter. Apparently it wasn't _**normal**_ in Overland for people to be almost eight feet tall, and it would probably draw unwanted attention if I remained my normal height. My suit was thick and heavy, clearly coming from somewhere in Nidaria (_it gets bitterly cold there during the winter_); we were dressed warmly after McTwisp had an incident on his own trip above the Rabbit Hole. It was winter in Overland at the moment, and since he hadn't been dressed for chilly weather, he came back sick.

Unfortunately, the weather never changes drastically here in Underland, so it was in the mid to high 70s when I stepped outside. I was burning up before I even got to the meeting area.

The rest of the castle had been awakened to follow us out, but only a few people were milling about in the plaza. Elias and Saleen were conversing with the Tweedles and Mallymkun while the March Hare was trying to explain something to anyone that would listen. A cerulean mist drifted across the ground, and for a half a second I thought a smoke demon had broken into the castle, but then I remembered a certain insect with a chronic smoking problem that frequented the shrubbery.

He emerged from the bushes, landing on my outstretched hand, "Good morning."

"Isn't it a bit late for it to be morning?"

"Not quite yet." He chuckled, "I don't suppose you'd mind if I rode along with you to the Portal, would you?"

"Not at all." The Butterfly climbed onto my shoulder as I mounted my horse and fell in behind the other knights. Thorne refused to acknowledge my presence, and wisely placed Saleen between the two of us, with Eli's horse trotting on the other side of me.

As I glanced around, many more carriages arrived, and mother, Samuel, Rosalynn, and another young woman climbed into a smaller one beside us. The younger lady had a little boy that looked a little older than five. He was practically bouncing off the seats!

"Who's that with your parents?"

Tarrant answered, "That's Zada, and their son Remy. She escaped the fire too!" his grin was wider than Chessur's could possibly stretch, "Christian should be along here soo- oh, there he is getting into the carriage now." Sure enough, there he was, climbing aboard the coach. The boy, Remy, instantaneously calmed down and climbed into his father's lap, pulling off his cap and placing it on his own head. Tarrant waved from his perch on the Bandersnatch to his family, and they all waved back.

Seeing Christian and his wife and son made me wonder…who else had survived the devastating inferno? Had _Luna_ made it out alive? Was she here, somewhere? Then, the other, not so positive questions came to mind; was she married to someone else? Did she have kids? Did she think that I was with the Red Queen in the Outlands?

Eli noticed me staring off into the distance, and brought his horse parallel with mine, "You alright there Stayne?"

I shook my head to clear my thoughts before replying, "Yeah I'm fine…"

He eyed me skeptically before falling back, "If you say so."

By high noon we had reached the Garden in one piece and dismounted the carriages. Tarrant called me to the entrance of the Portal; the rim of the fountain in the middle of the Garden. From what I understood, we were supposed to jump in feet first, and we would then find ourselves standing in Victorian Age China. Yeah, _**that**_ seemed likely.

"Well, this is it…" I gulped, shuffling my feet nervously.

"Yes, yes…it is. _Alice is coming home…_" the Mad Hatter was almost jumping for joy, on the other hand. He was ready to get his girl back, and tell her that he'd get to bring her home to his parents after all.

I took his arm, so that we were linked together, and climbed up beside him, "Can we go Mirana?" calling over my shoulder, I hesitated to leap into the shallow fountain.

The White Queen smiled and shooed us off, "Go on now; run along."

Turning back, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and counted down from five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

One…

Lift-off.


	4. Don't Rock the Boat

_**Chapter Three –**_

_**Don't Rock the Boat**_

My eyes slowly opened to a strange place. Sounds drifted into my ears that were foreign to me, and smells wafted through the air that I'd never smelled before. It felt colder than it had in Marmoreal, cold enough to snow possibly.

We had made it to China.

The two of us dropped hands and stared around us in wonder…there were enormous sailing ships all around us in the port, like the ones I'd only ever heard of. Sadly, even my wildest imagination had failed to capture the true size of the boats; I had to crane my neck just to glimpse the tip top of the masts. The hulls were positively gigantic, bobbing through the steely grey waves like monstrous apples in a bucket.

"Wow…" I gaped at the sights around me. Neither of us had ever been to Overland before, and now I was severely jealous of McTwisp's numerous trips.

The Hatter suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, as if he'd noticed something that wasn't there earlier. His neon green eyes locked onto it and it never escaped his gaze, even when he spoke to me, "There she is…over there…there's Alice!"

Sure enough, when I turned from gawking at everything, I saw a head of curly blonde hair bouncing towards a ship with _the Wonder_ painted on her boards. Alice had aged a few years since her last visit; she looked about twenty-three or twenty-four now. She was talking with an older gentleman who had several rolls of parchment tucked under his arms, and whose hat was slightly askew on his head. They could've been discussing important business or just chatting about the weather (_which was dreary, to say the least_), but either way, Alice seemed very enthusiastic about it. She was very adamant about whatever point she was trying to get across, and her companion didn't seem to disagree. The two of them disappeared into a small store, and we were left standing in the middle of the sidewalk, staring after her like a couple of lost puppies.

"Well," I broke the silence, "we've found her. So how are we supposed to get her attention?"

"You mean…you didn't come up here with a plan?"

"No, that's why I was hoping that _**you**_ were coming up with something."

Tarrant turned serious abruptly, his eyes shifting from lime green to a reddish brown and his accent thickened, "Waell laddie, somebudy better think up somethin' quick, 'cause here sh'comes again…"

Alice had emerged from the shop, and now she was carrying some parchments and what looked like a handful of ink pens. She also had a bag that clinked and rattled that was clearly filled with tiny clay jars, and one filled with notebooks. For all her ambition and determination, she could sure use some extra hands…

"Wait a second…I've got an idea…" I leaned over and whispered my plan to him, and he looked at me like I was the crazy one!

The cobblestone streets of Shanghai were even harder to navigate when you were balancing very fragile objects in your hands and dangling from your arms. As graceful as I may be (_which isn't very, I'm afraid_), there was always the sense that I was about to just drop every bit of it. Of course, that wouldn't have surprised me in the least…I've been even more distracted here of late, even more so than usual. It seems to get worse with each passing year, like it's a progressive disease of some sort. I don't really mind it that much, but it does make traversing uneven terrain exceedingly difficult.

But what makes things like this much easier is the remarkable kindness of complete strangers…

"E-excuse me? Miss?" a young man approached me from up the street, offering his hand to take some items off of mine, "Do you need s-some assistance?" he stuttered, his bashful smile showing a small gap in his top front teeth.

His brilliant scarlet hair fell around his unearthly green eyes in wild curls. A dark green felt hat perched atop his head, with the end of a peacock feather sticking out of a maroon ribbon tied around it…and there was some kind of card on one side, but I couldn't make out what it said. Just beneath his jacket, I caught a peep of several spools of thread hanging about his waist, but for some reason his ensemble didn't strike me as _**odd**_…it felt _**familiar**_ somehow…

"Oh…yes, thank you very much." He took the sack full of blank notebooks and some of the rolls of parchment in his arms and fell into step beside me, "What's your name, sir?"

He chuckled shyly, "No need to say sir, we're about the same age I expect…my name is Terrance Highton. I-I'm a hat maker…you see… Actually, I made the one I'm wearing."

"It's very lovely. I'm Alice Kingsleigh, by the way…I suppose you could call me the first mate of that ship over there;_ the Wonder_." I was supposed to be heading back to the boat, but my new friend had captured my interest, "This is my second trip here to China from London…what about you?"

"Oh, me? This is my first time…m-my family is from Cheshire."

Something in that name sparked a memory, buried deep within my mind, but I couldn't quite place it, "Your town is famous for the grinning cats, isn't it?"

Terrance laughed heartily at this, like there was some hidden meaning to my question. He agreed nonetheless, "Indeed, it is. Very famous for felines that can smile…I've actually _seen_ one before, believe it or not! He was a great, grey and striped creature, and could grin from one ear to the other! "

_"What kind of creatures?" Father asked_

_ "Well; there's a Dodo Bird, a Rabbit in a waistcoat…a smiling cat…"I answered._

_ "I didn't know cats__** could**__ smile."_

_ "Neither did I. And…there's a blue caterpillar…"_

_"A __**blue**__ caterpillar…hmm…"_

The flashback hit me so suddenly that I almost dropped my things on the ground. Terrance caught me by the arm, trying to shake me out of the mysterious daydream. What had my father and I been talking about? Had I been running a fever, or was I simply delirious?

Was it a dream?

Unable to shake the strange feeling of déjà vu, I attempted to hide it with humor, "It seems to me that I recall seeing such a creature myself, when I was much younger… Does this cat have a habit of disappearing?"

He nodded again, "All the time. Gets rather bothersome during conversations." Terrance rolled his eyes as if this statement actually applied to a cat that he knew, and if it were completely normal to carry on conversations with house pets.

_ But who am I to judge? I've spoken to Caterpillars and flowers, and chased White Rabbits in waistcoats, had tea with Mad Hatters, March Hares and Dormice, and have spoken to a smiling cat myself! Not to mention I rode a rather large beast whose name begins with Banner…or was it Bander? __**And**__ I've slain a terrible dragonesque monster with a cry of "Off with your head!"_

In my dreams at least…or, at least that what I _**think**_ happened. Surely I didn't _**really**_ do all that…did I?

Just as I was about to question my companion on any other unusual animals that he'd come across lately, someone else called out for his attention, "Terrance! _**There**_ you are! I've been looking _**everywhere**_ for you!" A man with long black hair and a faint scar over his left eye strode over to us, "Where have you been?

Terrance whirled around, "Oh! Sorry Ivan, I was just helping Miss Kingsleigh here…"

He was clearly an American by the way he spoke, and introduced himself as Ivan Stanford, a fencing instructor (_and Terrance's good friend_) from New York. He lifted the bag of ink bottles from my hand, leaving me with a much lighter bundle of paper. He added that he was not, in fact, from New York City, but that he'd always wanted to go there at least once…and there was their dilemma.

"I had been staying in Cheshire with Terrance for a while, and we'd decided that we wanted to visit the city together. We were supposed to take a ship to port there, but we got on the wrong boat and ended up on the other side of the globe." Ivan admitted sheepishly.

"That's dreadful! Do you have any way to get back?" I was appalled by their misfortune. They seemed like such wonderful characters; so friendly and kind…no one should be left this far from home with no way to get back where they belong.

Terrance shook his head gravely, "I'm afraid not. We haven't got the money to buy tickets back home." he looked very distressed and worried, and homesick to boot, "And no one knows we're here…neither of us have many relatives that we could contact."

This is simply _**horrible**_! Could anything _**else **_befall these poor people? I wish there was _**some **_way I could help them get back home…

__Oh wait, I have a ship. Of course!

"I'll tell you what…our company is returning to England tomorrow evening. I could ask the captain if we can spare the room for the two of you." I offered, and to my joy, both of their faces lit up immediately. They thanked me repeatedly, and asked if they could treat me to a modest dinner at one of the local restaurants. It wouldn't be much, Terrance confessed, but he believed that it was the least they could do. Assuring him that I wouldn't mind it one bit, we all traipsed to the ship together to deposit my things and freshen up before heading out.

"I _**told**_ you it would work." Terrance adjusted his tie in the mirror. The captain of _the Wonder_ had agreed to let us go back to England with them, and had given us rooms below deck. Not that it really mattered, since we wouldn't be staying long enough to need beds.

"Yeah, you sure did." He had told me no such thing; I had been the one to suggest this idea in the first place. The Hatter paid me no mind and headed to the door, "C'mon, we've got a date to go on!" he urged me into the hallway and outside.

I grinned and thought to myself as he ran to catch up with Alice, "_I think he means __**he**__ has a date to go on…__**I'm**__ just a third wheel._" I tried desperately not to laugh out loud, but failed miserably. Fortunately, my other two cohorts were too absorbed in conversation to notice.

After eating the best noodles I'd ever tasted and drinking some hot tea, the three of us waltzed around the town until night began to fall, two of us subtly dropping hints that would hopefully bring one's memories back. Tarrant told toned-down versions of his outrageous tea parties (_some of which I had attended myself_), reminded her of playing croquet with strange equipment shaped like animals and I was saddled with the subject of pilfering the delectable pastries known as tarts from a very irritable woman, and people of unusually small or large physiques (_go figure…_).

Her eyes held hidden recognition with each wild story, but she never let on that she really believed us. Perhaps she was in denial that we could've come looking for her after all this time, or that what she was recalling was nothing more than a fantasy. Regardless of what she thought at the moment, she wouldn't be able to deny a bit of it once she stepped through the Portal. Whether she remembered everything while still in Overland would be irrelevant then; she would get all of her memories back as soon as she set foot in Underland.

_Hopefully_.

Absolem had worried about the length of time that Alice had been absent, and then strength of the forgetfulness spell he had put on her. He and Mirana had both been concerned that simply returning her to our world wouldn't work to bring back every single detail of her last visit, and that extra steps would have to be taken so that everything wouldn't go all haywire. That on top of the current demonic debacle wasn't making this situation any less sticky, not to mention that the Butterfly again failed to mention these very important details to my traveling partner. The Hatter wouldn't take too kindly to not having this information.

Apparently my worriedness had tuned everything else out, because the next thing I heard over my distress was Tarrant's drawl, "Ivan are you even listening to me?"

I snapped out of it, "Huh? What is it? What?"

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "I was _**trying**_ to ask if you were heading back to the ship…it's getting late and you look like you're about to freeze." Judging by the emphasis he'd put on this "suggestion", I figured he wanted a little alone time with Alice.

"Oh! Oh yeah, I think I will." The frigid air hit me suddenly, like I'd been plunged into a tub of ice water. I hadn't realized how chilly it had gotten once the sun had gone down; I guess all the self-tormenting I'd been doing had kept me distracted from the nip in the wind. I bid the others goodnight (_they promised to be along soon after_) and began my trek back to the boat, my heels clicking loudly in the growing quiet on the streets.

As soon as I was out of their sight, it felt like I'd fallen into someone else's.

I scanned the street for any other people besides me, Alice and Tarrant, and only saw a few shopkeepers closing up for the night and a woman with a baby stroller on the other side of the main road. Nothing seemed suspicious or out of place to me, so I shook my head.

What creeped me out is that when I stole another glance in her direction, she had completely disappeared. There wasn't a trace left of my peculiar pursuer, or any indication that she'd been there to begin with.

Oh no…what if it was a demon? Had one slipped through the blocks on the Portal?

Wrapping my coat around me even tighter, I took off at a much quicker pace towards the ship. Walking as fast as I could, I tried to get back to the room as quickly as possible so I could be closer to the Portal and get outta here.

Moments later, I stopped short again, looking dead ahead of me with a fixed expression of pure shock. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the woman had rematerialized just up the street from me, still pushing the carriage ahead of her. Her face was concealed by her enormous purple feathered hat, and her dress covered everything but her hands, which were a bronzy shade of brown. The nails on the tips of her gaunt fingers were pointed and hooked at the ends, almost like claws. She flashed a smile that was unnaturally white and all sharp canine teeth. Her eyes were a vibrant blood red, her pupils catlike and slitted.

Prying my eyes away from the terrifying figure, I dared to look into the stroller at the baby she was carrying about. The pale child was apparently a little boy, judging by the blue blanket wrapped around him, with eyes as green as the Hatter's and hair so fair that it could've been white. He made no cooing noises or little gurgles like most infants I'd seen, he only stared up in confusion at his caretaker; he didn't seem happy at all. However, he wasn't crying or screaming either…

"Excuse me sah…" the woman finally spoke, reaching down into the carriage, "I believe you dropped dis back dere…" she held out Luna's silver locket. I know for a fact that didn't have it with me when I came here, but there was no other way for her to have it.

"Oh! Um…thank you ma'am… I would've missed this if I'd lost it!" I cautiously took the necklace from her and put it in my jacket pocket, then quickly gazed down at the baby, "That's a cute little boy you have there…what's his name?"

"Bowie. 'im is not mine, 'e belong to a friend. She's gahn off on business, so I tek care of 'im 'til she get back." She replied, rocking the buggy gently back and forth, "'im a sweet baby… neva cries or fuss. Always quiet…"

Well I'd be awfully silent too if I was being dragged around by a demon! It frightened me to wonder what this creature had done to the parents to get this child away from them; were they even still alive now? What was she going to do with the little boy? If it wasn't such a useless gesture, I would've contacted the police here in the city, but what could mere humans do against a being such as this? Nothing.

I waved at the baby who, much to my surprise waved back, and then gave his babysitter a small bow, "Well I must be off, thank you again for' finding this necklace for me…goodnight!" I resisted the urge to run down the street to the ship.

A sudden, horrible thought crossed my mind as I neared my destination. Was she going to find Alice and Tarrant?

Pausing temporarily, looking back over my shoulder, I then shook my head and kept walking, "Well she's gone now. If that's what she's doing, then I won't have time to beat her to them. I'll just have to stay here and hope that they're alright." finally reaching the platform that lead up to the deck, and soon descended below it to Alice's room, wrenching the door open and scanning the room warily.

The Portal was already open, the surface of the Looking-Glass shimmering like water stirred by a breeze. Outlines of the people on the other side were faintly visible through the ripples, as was the shape of the fountain head towering over the pool we'd come through.

I couldn't go through just yet; all three of us have to go through it at the same time. If we don't it'll close up and leave the two of them stranded.

I flopped down on the bed, my legs dangling off the side and my arms flung over my head. The possibly cursed necklace was now clutched in my fingers. Turning it over and over, I was inspecting the silver covering for any tampering, "The necklace looks normal… but that doesn't mean anything. If she did anything to it, it won't be obvious. I'm almost afraid to open the locket to check…"

Before my conscience could assure me that this fear was totally justified, I pried the lid open slowly, revealing the heart-shaped clock that ticked away beneath. The hands on the clock face spun at their accelerated speed; this watch runs on Underland time, rather than Overland, so it goes faster than an ordinary watch. Nothing was scratched, bent, or broken. All seemed well…for the moment.

"Like I said, it won't be anything obvious." I snapped it shut again, twirling it around my fingers idly. Relief washed over me; there wasn't anything malevolent in it this time. But what about the next time something like this happened? And the next? What then?

As all fell silent again, the floorboards outside the door began creaking and groaning with the weight of footsteps and my body went rigid. I sat bolt upright on the bed, my eyes narrowed anxiously. I could hear my heart thudding violently in my chest as I reached for my concealed dagger…

The door swung open, and the two lovebirds trotted in, giggling and smiling like it was going out of style. I put the blade away before any of them could notice, reclining back into the mattress with a heavy sigh.

"You scared the life outta me!" I scolded them. My hand was clasped over my heart, so as to prevent it from leaping out of my chest.

Alice quickly became concerned, "Is something wrong? Are you alright?" she had quite the grip on the Hatter's arm, and she pulled him with her as she leaned forward.

"Not exactly… had a rather frightening encounter on the way back here. Some woman followed me almost all the way from where I left you two, and then she just disappeared right in front of me."

"You mean…?" the Hatter started, but let his words trail off. He knew exactly what I meant, without even saying it.

"Like…a ghost?" Alice finished the thought, but using the incorrect supernatural being.

"Or worse…" he corrected her. All three of us shuddered, "It's a good thing we came back when we did, or we might have run into her ourselves."

"What did she look like?"

"She had blood red eyes, and claws instead of fingers, and really sharp teeth, and…" it sounded like I was describing some monster from a children's story, not something I'd just seen walking down the street, "she had a baby stroller. There was a little boy in it…I don't know what she's gonna do with him, but I wish there was something we could do to save him..."

"But she's gone now, and it's too late to hunt her down. Not that it would do any good."

"He's right." Tarrant agreed, "We'll be safer here anyway; I doubt anything would try to bother us here…" he pulled Alice closer to him, quietly assuring her that he would protect her. She wouldn't really need much guarding though; Alice could take care of herself just as well as either of us. Though I hardly believe the three of us together would be able to handle one of these monsters, seeing as none of us have any magical anti-demon powers…which would be nice right about now.

Alice laid her head on his shoulder, "I don't feel very safe now, knowing there's something lurking around outside…" his arm snaked around her waist, holding her even closer.

The gesture dredged up a memory from the depths of my mind, where I'd hidden most of my happy thoughts for many years…any thoughts of my parents, Luna, my life before Iracebeth had kidnapped me. I'd suppressed them for so long, and now this one was fighting to resurface, so I let it…

_The two of us were walking hand-in-hand through the forest where Chessur lived, the branches swaying in the evening breeze. The woods were even darker at twilight than they normally were, which greatly reduced our eyesight (on top of my left eye being patched up), and Luna was beginning to get worried. We were only twelve and thirteen at the time…_

_"I told you we never should've played hide and seek with those cheeky rascals! I knew they were going to run off and leave us!" she chided me for falling into her cousins' trap. Christian and Tarrant had coerced us into playing their game, and had left us out in Tulgey Wood all alone. I didn't mind being by myself with Luna, but she wasn't too happy about their method of giving us "quality time together"._

_"Relax Luna, we're almost home. It's not like they took us all the way to Gummer Slough and left us." I tried in vain to calm her down, but she was adamant that the two of them would rue the day they were born when she was done!_

_"Luckily for them…" she muttered, crossing her arms._

_I pulled her closer to me, coaxing a small smile out of her. Her pale arm wrapped around my shoulders, and mine held fast to her waist. The two of us were so entranced by one another that we barely even noticed the root that suddenly reached up and snatched our feet out from under us. We toppled to the ground, one on top of the other, both of us screaming out in surprise. I managed to land face-first in the dirt, but Luna had twisted around and landed on her back beside me._

_ "Loci! Are you ok?" unfazed by the fall, she leapt up and pulled me to my feet (which was exceedingly difficult because of the gangly limbs I hadn't grown into yet)._

_ I nodded, flipping my hair out of my face, "Never mind me, are you alright?" she didn't look hurt, but I couldn't help being concerned. _

_She rolled her eyes and nodded, "Yes, I'm fine. Hold on, you got some dirt on you…" she reached up to wipe it away with her thumb. Her fingers brushed my cheek clean, and even after the dust was gone, they lingered. They pushed my hair aside – again – and then her hands found their way to my shoulders, her silver eyes found their way into mine. One hand of mine stroked her lavender hair, turned nearly grey by the fading light, the other rested in the small of her back. We were only centimeters away, our foreheads pressing against each other…and she leaned forward first. Our lips met for a few brief moments, but before I could even comprehend the thought of pulling back, something else dragged us apart._

_The sound of clattering armor approaching, angry shouting…the Card soldiers had found me again._

_We jerked away from each other, startled by the sound of my pursuers. Not thinking of myself, or what would happen once they caught me, I demanded that Luna get herself home to safety before they found us. At first she had refused to budge from my side, but she eventually relented and fled into the forest, with one last look at me before she was out of sight. I had promised her that we'd see each other again, and that we would be together at last…one day…_

_I was such a liar. We never saw each other again._

"_Hello?! __**Stayne**__! Bad time to be daydreaming!_" Tarrant derailed my train of thought with a harsh whisper and a shaking shoulder, "_Are you __**trying**__ to get left here? Let's go! Alice and I are about to head into the Portal!_" he tugged me out of my seat just as his foot broke the surface of the Mirror. Alice looked like she was in a trance; taking slow, mechanical steps, her eyes never moving from his face while he led us through the Portal. They spoke in low murmurs, inaudible even in the quiet of the night.

In order to not be separated from them, I held one of Alice's hands, and she took his other hand in hers. Alice turned to look as she disappeared into the Looking-Glass, "Coming Ivan?" her foot melted into the liquid surface, then her hand, her leg, her arm. I nodded when it reached past her shoulder, and she turned forward, allowing the Portal to consume the rest of her.

Taking a deep breath before following her, I closed my eyes and stepped blindly into the glass.


	5. The Art of Masquerading

_**Chapter Four –**_

_**The Art of Masquerading**_

When I opened my eyes again, the three of us were standing on the rim of the fountain we'd entered Overland from, still holding hands and holding our breath. Almost no time had passed while we were gone. Everyone was staring up at us expectantly, holding their breath too. Slowly the other two let out gasps and their eyes fluttered open; the Hatter smiled triumphantly, but Alice looked a little more surprised than anything. It wasn't until I peeked around her that I realized that the Hatter had transformed back into his normally abnormal-looking self, and so had I. I also felt considerable healthier than I had when we'd left…I guess the Portal does heal just about anything.

She stared at him for a moment before speaking, "Ha…Hatter?" she asked, clearly puzzled by her current situation.

He nodded fervently, "Yes Alice. Do you…remember me? Like you promised you would? You said you'd never forget me…" I thought he was about to go on one of his incredibly long-winded ramblings, but she stopped him before he could start. And by 'stopped him', I mean she kissed him square on the mouth mid-sentence.

"How could I forget you when you left me with such a wonderful memory to hold onto?" she smiled up at him as they embraced and the rest of us cheered, "_I told you I'd be back again before you knew it_…"

"That wasn't quite quick enough for me, love. If it'd been up to me, you'd have been back within the hour! If it took that long! I don't know that I could've even waited that long…it's been so dreadful without you here, simply awful…" he went at it again, the words just rolling out of his mouth.

"Hatter-" she tried to cut him off once more, but he just kept going.

"Nothing was the same with you gone! It was like all the muchness in the world had left, and everything was empty. The tea didn't taste right; the bread and butter just fell apart…"

"_Hatter_?" I tried my luck at stopping him, but he didn't even notice.

"Not to mention I had to kill Time again, and he wasn't too thrilled about it the second go-round. You'd think he'd just let it go, but apparently not…you know what interval he stopped at this time? Just _**before**_ tea time! I haven't eaten since you left! Or slept for that matter…"

"_**Hatter**_!" Mallymkun attempted to get his attention, but that didn't work either.

He continued to prattle on, most of his speech not making any sense, until everyone else in the Garden grew weary of standing around listening to it, "**HATTER**_**!**_" every person within a twenty foot radius shouted. He jolted to a stop, like the yelling had startled him awake from a dream.

"Save some of it for the ride home, you'll have plenty of time to catch up then!" I reminded him that she was coming with us, not staying here or leaving us again.

Her eyes grew wide and she whirled around to face me, almost ending up in the water. Judging by her expression, she wasn't exactly thrilled now that she'd recognized me, "_**Stayne**_? What are _you_ doing here? I thought you were banished with the Red Queen!" she backed away ever so slightly, grasping at Tarrant's arms behind her.

"Well it…it's a bit of a long story. You see-"

"He was a spy for the resistance the whole time dear. There's no need to be worried about him." The White Queen stepped in on my behalf, drawing her attention away from me.

"Oh…hello your majesty." Alice greeted the queen, after casting a wary glance in my direction.

"He's also right; we'll have plenty of time to talk once we get started home. We have a ball to get to, you see…"

Alice was very flabbergasted and flattered that we were holding a ball just for her return, and insisted that she didn't see what the big deal was about it. She exchanged greetings with all of our old friends, and met a few of the new ones as well, though Tarrant failed to find his parents in the throng of Underlanders. Thorne hung back from the crowd around her, hesitating to go anywhere near her lest he be noticed. Lucky girl.

I climbed onto my horse beside the other two knights, who both started chattering and firing off questions at one time. I finally got them to quiet down enough for me to explain the whole escapade in a nutshell, omitting the run-in with the demon woman so they wouldn't have fits. The necklace was still stuffed in my pocket, and would not be leaving that place until I could pass it along to Absolem.

"I wonder which carriage Alice is going to ride in." Saleen thought aloud when I'd finished my tale. They had hoped that she would get in one close to us so that they could speak to her before we got to Marmoreal. I didn't have the chance to speculate before she climbed onto the back of the Bandersnatch with the Hatter.

"Guess that takes care of that." Eli was sulking slightly as he brought his horse around and trotted after the carriages. Saleen soon followed, but before I could join them, Thorne decided to make a jab as he rode past.

"Pardon me Ilosovic…but I couldn't help but notice that our _conquering heroine_ didn't look very happy to see you there. Is everything alright?" he sneered.

Not wanting anyone to notice the two of us, I swallowed my rising anger and replied, "We weren't on the best of terms when she left, but I'm going to make the effort to fix that as soon as possible. Not that it's any of _**your**_ business." Almost as an afterthought, I added, "And just so you're aware, I'd suggest that _**you**_ not harass her or bother her in any way like you seem to enjoy doing to me, because if Tarrant catches wind of it, _**I'll**_ be the least of your worries."

He said nothing else, and took off at a canter to catch up with Saleen. To be honest, I wouldn't have objected to the Hatter putting him in his place, but I felt like being the bigger person (_more than literally_) and giving him a fair warning.

Maybe I'll get lucky, and he won't take my advice.

Evening was falling slowly when we crossed through the gates of Marmoreal, Alice's arms wrapped around me still. The Bandersnatch wasn't the most comfy ride, but she made it worthwhile.

"I can't believe I'm actually back. I was beginning to think I'd never see any of this again…or you…" she pulled me closer before we dismounted, "I've been having strange dreams lately; I dreamt that I could see all of you, and hear you, but I couldn't get to you. And then in another dream, there were mirrors all around me, but when I tried to touch them, they burst into millions of pieces…"

"Almost everyone I've spoken to has said that strange things have been going on with them too…maybe you should tell Absolem about your dreams." Swinging my leg over Fluffy's head, my arms stretched out as I helped her down off his back. She scratched him behind the ears and rubbed his nose, receiving an enthusiastic lick in return.

"Perhaps, but for now…" her arms went around me again, her head rested on my shoulder, "I just want to focus on the good things that have happened today."

"Would…I be one of those things?" I returned the hug, happy to have her with me again.

"Of course. _You're the best one so far_…"

Alice pulled back enough that we could look into each other's eyes, though neither of us said anything. We only gazed dreamily at other, smiling. There really wasn't anything I could say that would fit this situation, and evidently she was speechless too.

Our friends, on the other hand, still retained their voices, as they called out to us to come inside before it got dark.

Not wanting to be left out of the festivities, all of them being in her name after all, Alice pulled me into the palace ballroom to join with the others.

I was unaware that the ball the White Queen had decided to hold in my honor was a masquerade, so I was rather unprepared for the spectacle that it became when we arrived in the ballroom. Mirana had a mask in hand for me before we even got in the door, and hers was already on. Tarrant pulled his out of his jacket pocket, tying the ribbon somewhere in his orange hair, and then offered me his hand, "Come, come! There's someone I want you to meet before we dance…"

Having to gather my skirt in my hands so that I wouldn't trip, I chased after him, weaving in and out of the whirling sea of dresses dancing around us. He kept looking back, his green eyes beaming through the gold trim around them, and smiling with that gap between his front teeth. My hair was slowly coming unraveled, as it usually did, but I didn't mind at all.

We passed several people we knew, their faces going by in quick blurs until we stopped in front of a pair that were hardly familiar to me, but the Hatter knew just who they were. He removed his mask as we skidded to a halt, "Alice, as hard as this will be to believe…these are my parents." The man and woman unmasked themselves as well, our mouths all gaping open. Tarrant obviously took after his father; the hair, the eyes, down to the space between their two front teeth, they were all identical. However, I could see a bit of his mother in him, still, "Mum, Dad, this…this is Alice." I don't think he could quite wrap his head around this either. Four years ago, both of us were under the impression that this meeting would never happen, because his parents were thought to be dead from the Jabberwocky's fire. But now that they stood before me, I honestly wasn't sure what to do…or to say for that matter.

His father, after shaking off his initial shock, found the words before the rest of us, "Proud to meet yeh lassie! The name's Samuel, but you can just call me Sam." He took my hand and shook it vigorously, struggling to keep his hat on his head.

"Oh! I'm glad to see you too! Now I see where Tarrant gets his looks from." I chuckled at the younger Hightopp blushing, or rather, the patches of color on his cheeks taking on a more pinkish tone. Sam, on the other hand, burst into a raucous fit of laughter, pointing out that I had a wonderful sense of humor.

His wife was much calmer when she introduced herself, though no less cheerful, "My name is Rosalynn, but you can just call me Mother Rose. Everyone else here that's roundabout your age does…" she then explained that in her younger days, she was a nanny of sorts to both Mirana and Iracebeth, as well as the Knave, the other knights and royals, and just about everyone else. On top of raising her own son, she had to keep up with everyone else's too, "It wasn't without help though. I really would've gone barmy if it hadn't been for Jasmin Stayne."

There was no need to ask whose mother she was, especially after she and Ilosovic glided out from the midst of the crowd. She was a full head taller than the rest of us, and her limbs were long and lean; she was clearly the Knave's mother. Somehow, she seemed different than what I had expected of his relatives…maybe I was thinking they'd all be a bunch of ruthless barbarians, or something of that nature. Jasmin was about as far from that as I could imagine!

"Bit late to be recruiting for an army of children, isn't it Rose?" she poked at the much shorter woman, "This young lady seems far too well-behaved to rove around with our lot."

Mrs. Hightopp shot back, "I wasn't trying to recruit her Jasmin. We have enough hooligans to deal with as it is." Both of them stared pointedly at their now grown children, who exchanged looks of mischief covered by false surprise.

"I've no idea what you mean by that, Mother Rose."

"We were perfect little angels."

"If the two of _**you**_ were angels, then I'm a Mome Rath." Another voice scoffed, and for a moment I thought I was seeing double. Ilosovic's father had appeared, and even with half of his face covered by his mask, there was no mistaking the resemblance between them. The only difference I could see, other than age and the absence of a scar, was that his father had blue eyes while his were somewhere between brown and grey. He introduced himself as Alexander Stayne, the legendary White Knight whom I'd inherited the Vorpal Sword from, and in a voice that neither of the boys could hear, informed me that he was not a Mome Rath. He also reiterated that both his son and the Hatter were naught but a couple of rabble-rousers, and that it would henceforth be my duty to keep them in line. I accepted this job with good humor, though I was not sure if I could handle it.

The Knave rolled his eyes before turning them to me, "Don't listen to him Alice, we never got into trouble as kids."

Though I doubted the sincerity of that statement, I just went along with the pair of them, "I didn't know you two were friends…you didn't seem to get on very well last time I was here." It hadn't dawned on me until just then, but for them to be what had seemed like mortal adversaries, the Hatter and Stayne had been awfully chummy since we'd reunited in Shanghai.

"That was part of his cover, dear. If he hadn't acted that way, the Red Queen would've found him out." Tarrant chimed in, "We grew up here together; he actually helped me form the Resistance."

"First spy too. Our _dearest_ _friend_ Iracebeth didn't find out about it until we got to the Outlands." He was grinning triumphantly about keeping his espionage a secret for so long. That was indeed an accomplishment to be proud of; covertly helping bring down a bully like her. I wondered to myself how long he'd been spying on the Red Queen, and in the midst of this pondering, I realized that I already knew the answer…

_I was in a very crowded courtroom, and there was a trial being held for something. The Queen came thundering in, screaming about stolen tarts, of all things! Amongst all the language she was throwing about, she called for the prisoner guilty of causing this ruckus. Everyone in the room turned about to see two of the Card Guards, the 7 and the 4, drag in a boy not much older than myself! He was dressed in what appeared to be a knight's armor, but from what I heard from those around me, he was only the knave. _

_The boy did not resist being hauled in by the monstrous playing cards; he was almost completely limp until they dropped him to the hard floor beneath. He rose to his knees, barely able to support himself; it wasn't hard to defer why. Dried blood and bruises covered his face like a gruesome mask. I could see how thin he was and the dark circles under his weary eyes made him look so pitiful compared to the well-off people in the gathered congregation. _

_I could barely strain to hear his raspy, ragged voice, "Your…majesty… please, I beg of you… spare my life! I've done nothing wro-"_

_"SILENCE!" she boomed, "I KNOW you stole my tarts, Stayne. And for that, your punishment is to lose your head!"_

_How dreadful! All this commotion over tarts! As I glanced around the room, I realized I was the only person in sight that wasn't rejoicing in some way. These people were throwing a party because some poor, unfortunate person was going to be beheaded; and it was a child no less! _

_I became sorely angry, and made a point to let it be known, "YOU are all heathens! Lunatics! You're going to kill an innocent child over stupid little TARTS?!" I bellowed at anyone that could hear me, which was everyone in sight. Somehow, I'd managed to start growing again, so that I towered over all the courthouse's occupants. From nearly twenty feet high, I could scarcely see their facial expressions, but I knew they were utterly terrified. _

_The Knave somehow managed a weak chuckle, and his eyes briefly met with mine as I stormed up to the judge's bench where the Red Queen was perched. I continued my rant from there, "And as for YOU, big-headed, dim-witted tyrant! You ought to be ashamed of yourself and your subjects for allowing such idiocy in your castle! That you ought!" I was rather surprised at myself, for I was NEVER allowed to speak that way to anyone back home, much less to a queen! _

_She was just as dumbfounded as me, and just as speechless. The whole place fell silent, so much so that you could've heard a pin drop from a mile away. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks, and my body shuddered with unreleased fury. _

_I turned on my heel to face the crowd behind me, when I suddenly realized why everyone had become so quiet; I was back to my normal size. I guess letting out all that pent up anger had shrunk me, which wasn't a good thing in this case. I also noticed something else that was rather peculiar when I had spun around; on a nearby table, there was a plate of heart shaped tarts, "You CANNOT be serious! The darn things have been here the whole time!" I mumbled under my breath. I casually strode over to them, picked the plate up, and sauntered over to the monarch's seat, "Looking for something, your highness?" I remarked smugly. _

_She stared at them for a moment, trying to grasp the situation at hand. I was expecting her to be overjoyed that I found the measly little pastries, but her reaction wasn't at all pleasant, "Why you little scoundrel! You knew they were there this whole time! I'll just bet you had a hand in stealing them too! This girl is hereby charged with helping burglarize my tarts! OFF WITH HER HEAD!" she cried out. The enormous guards tried to grab me, but I slipped between them and headed straight to the door. As big and bulky as they were, they had quite a time getting untangled and trying to get after me. _

_Before I could reach the exit, I remembered the Knave of Hearts lying on the ground, completely defenseless against being trampled by the giant cards. Dashing by the prison warden, my hand snatched the handcuff key right off his belt loop and threw it into my dress pocket. I reached for the boy's hand and pulled him off the floor as best I could, "Can you run?"_

_He tried his hardest to nod and give me a barely audible reply, "Y-yes… can you keep up?" he had an almost cocky tone to his voice and a smirk on his face. He may have been physically crushed, but his spirit and willpower was obviously unscathed. _

_"Can you?" And with that, we both made a mad dash for the door, narrowly escaping the grip of several of the queen's henchmen. _

_Once outside the walls of the courthouse, we were as good as gone to our pursuers. For someone so bad off, the Knave could run like the wind! I guess his extremely long legs were responsible for that. _

_We sped through the yards of the castle, dodging guards and ducking through the gates to our final escape. As soon as the walls of the dreary, dungeon-like palace were out of sight, the two of us dropped in the soft green meadow we had fled into. _

_He gulped in air like one would water if you had been in a desert. The Knave's still cuffed hands rested on his chest, and then his bony fingers ran through his scruffy, dark hair, pushing it out of his eyes, "I hope you're alright… I wouldn't want anyone hurt on my account." he nervously turned his gaze to meet mine._

_"Oh no, I'm fine. Tell me, what is your name?" I requested. Our previous situation had cut out our time to be properly introduced, "My name is Alice Kingsleigh." _

_He propped up on his elbow, and I could sense that he was beginning to warm up to me somewhat, "Ilosovic Stayne. I'm the Knave of Hearts, but you probably figured that out already."_

_"Yes, but judging by your uniform, I thought you were the Knight." I hoped I hadn't offended him, for he looked grimly at the ground when I mentioned his rank. _

_"I'm not the Knight of Hearts, not yet anyhow. That's my father's position at the moment, but when he retires, I will take his place… If Iracebeth doesn't have my head before I can escape." Ilosovic didn't seem too thrilled by that prospect, and reasonably so, but I could see he was eager to become the Knight, "So, enough about me, what about you, Alice?"_

_"Well, I'm no knight, or queen, or anything like that. I'm just an ordinary girl I suppose; nothing much to make a conversation of…" I felt a little sulky; certainly he had a great many adventures to tell of, I however, had little to share with him._

_"I'd hardly call someone who stands up to the Red Queen 'ordinary'."_

_My head tilted to one side, "What would you call them then?"_

_"Either 'foolish' or 'brave'…and you don't strike me as a fool, Miss Kingsleigh."_

_The short and rather awkward silence that followed was suddenly shattered by the sound of armor clanking together and hooves clattering on the hard-packed dirt path. We both froze in terror, not knowing whether to run or to stay put and pray they didn't find us. _

_Making as little noise as possible, I wriggled closer to him, "Ilosovic, what do we do now? We're trapped!" I whimpered._

_"It's ok Alice; I won't let them get you. You saved my life, that's exactly what I owe you. You're safe." he tried his best to comfort me. _

_I glanced at his wrists, still bound together, "How will you protect me if your hands are still cuffed?" _

_"Oh! Do you by chance have the key?"_

_"Yes." I silently reached into my pocket and pulled the key out where he could see it. He held out his hands, his gloves were stained with grime and blood and they were torn in several places. What little skin I could see under the cloth wasn't any better; in fact it looked much worse. I reached out to steady his hands, gently grasping the metal clamps._

_"Ah!" both of his arms became rigid and tense when I touched him; he gritted his teeth. That's when I saw the red liquid seeping out from under the iron shackles._

_"Oh my! Are you alright? I hope I didn't hurt you!" I apologized._

_"No, no… it's not your fault. These things are entirely too tight, that's why I'm bleeding so much. PLEASE hurry and get them off."_

_I gingerly inserted the key, turned it, and set my new friend free of his bindings. He released a long sigh of relief, and laid back down in the tall grass. _

_"Is that better?" I whispered_

_"Alice, I don't know how to thank you… I-" he stopped short, not sure what to say._

_"You're welcome, Ilosovic…"_

_The next thing I knew, there was a flurry of metal clanking together and horses were snorting and pawing at the ground all around us. The two of us bolted upright, shaking like the leaves on a tree. We were surrounded by Red Guards; there was no escape this time… or so I thought._

_Ilosovic leapt up from the ground, wielding a sword that I hadn't even noticed at his side, and began giving the oversized deck of cards a lashing that none of them would soon forget! I did all I could to stay out of the way and get to a safer hiding place, darting over the fallen soldiers and into the bushes. Although I knew I should've done something, anything, to help him, huddling in the woods like a coward was all I could bring myself to do. It was a struggle to not jump up and run farther away from the skirmish than I already was._

_Not long after my hasty retreat, a reinforcement battalion arrived with the wretched Red Queen in tow. The brutes managed to seize the Knave, even with all the wriggling and twisting he was doing. He thrashed even more violently as she came closer to him, snarling and growling all the while. Ilosovic seemed less like a twelve-year old boy in the grip of monsters and more like a caged animal fighting for freedom, "Do what you want with me, but you lay one hand on Alice and I swear on my father's honor, I'll kill you myself!" he proclaimed loud enough for people in the next country to hear him quite plainly._

_She seemed rather amused by his outburst, and had the audacity to lay her hand on him, "Silly little Ilosovic! I wasn't going to put my hands on her," she tousled his hair, leaving her slender fingers intertwined with it, "the guards will take care of that! Which leaves you to me…" Her eyelashes fluttered and the teenage royal came dangerously close to his face._

_He was disgusted by her proposition and reeled back as far as his body would allow, "You must be mad! I wouldn't be with you if my very LIFE depended on it, you horrid little witch!" Ilosovic raged. His eyes burned with unsheathed revulsion and hatred for the flirtatious monarch._

_"Your life isn't the only one in our hands… surely you haven't forgotten your companion…" she added coldly, obviously placing a threat on my head as well. _

_His pupils narrowed with fear, "No… leave her be! She's done nothing!" he cried in horror. _

_"It's either you or her Stayne, choose wisely."_

_He hesitated; his eyelids dropped and hid his eyes as they began to fill with tears. Was he considering turning me in to her; betraying me?! With his voice shaking, he responded, "Take me, not Alice. Do whatever you want, I don't care, just leave her out of this…" I could scarcely hear him with so much distance betwixt us. Tears glistened like pink-tainted diamonds as they mixed with his wounds and rolled down his cheeks, soaking his grey tunic. _

_"How gentlemanly of you to trade your life for the little lady! Surely you would make an excellent Knight!" Iracebeth jeered, harshly jerking his face towards hers, "Your father, the White Knight, would love this heroism so! 'Tis a shame though, that you've done it for no reason…Guards! Find the girl and bring her to me… NOW, or I shall have all your heads!" she demanded._

_Ilosovic began to fight their grip once more, even more vehemently than the last time, "No! You can't have her! I won't let you! Let go of me you fools!" he roared, desperately trying to flee from the warriors' hold. _

_For one last time, our eyes locked, with tears blurring our final goodbye, "RUN ALICE! GO, NOW… WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"_

_I paused only briefly, reluctant to leave him to fend for himself, and then I fled in the opposite direction._

The next time I remembered seeing him was my previous visit, and he had changed so much by then that he didn't seem like the same person; he was quite literally unrecognizable. The Knave that stood before me now was the closest thing to what he'd been the first time I'd met him, though a little worse for wear, "You mean…she didn't find out after we escaped that courtroom?" I blurted out.

He did a double take, "You _**remember**_ that Alice?"

It suddenly seemed like such an obvious thing that I had missed; his name alone should've jogged the memory last time! Honestly, how many people do _**you**_ know named _**Ilosovic**_?! "Y-yes…like it was yesterday! How could I have not known it was you in Iracebeth's castle? I didn't realize it was you at all…you saved my life and I didn't remember it 'til just now!"

He smiled, the first genuine one I'd seen on him since we were children, "I was just returning the favor. Don't feel bad, it took me until Mally called out to you to figure out that you weren't 'Um from Umbrage'."

Tarrant, who'd been watching us back and forth curiously, started giggling at the mention of my alias. The fictitious name had proved that ad-libbing wasn't my strong suit, and that avoiding falling for second-rate trickery wasn't the Red Queen's.

"What's so funny?" Christian, whom I'd been introduced to at the Fountain, sauntered off the dance floor, his breath uneven from a rather rigorous dance. His cousin didn't get a chance to explain before Ilosovic shot him a pointed glare, and insisted that it was "nothing". The rest of what had happened in Crims may have been revealed, but he would not let the oversight responsible for the majority of it come into the light. Shrugging it off, but vowing to find out sooner or later, Christian found his wife and made his way to the table of hors d'oeuvres.

The two older women, Rosalynn and Jasmin, soon put their masks back on and melded with their husbands into the dancers already on the floor. The whole crowd wore elaborate masquerade disguises in all the colors you could imagine, and then some! Beautiful gowns swished and swayed to the music floating around us.

The remaining younger crowd stood around for a few moments, awaiting the proper moment to join them ourselves. Both Tweedles, Mally, Chessur, Saleen and Elias appeared after one ridiculously long dance, accompanied by the return of Tarrant's cousin and his wife, and we chatted a good bit of the night away. Everyone took turns being partners with everyone else, except for Mally, who blatantly refused to dance with anyone because she thought it was "too girly" to sashay around in some frilly dress. She was wearing her breeches for the express purpose of proving her point, and would use her hatpin "sword" on anyone who tried to convince her otherwise. None of us bothered to argue with the Dormouse.

Somehow, the rotation of dancing companions had led me to Stayne, but despite the enormous height difference and the general awkwardness of the situation, we made it work long enough to get through one dance together.

While we spun around each other on the smooth marble floor, Ilosovic spoke quietly to me, "I do hope there's no hard feelings between us…after what happened back in Salazen Grum, that is." We both knew what he was alluding to without even having to say it; the incident in the hallway. Its memory hadn't resurfaced completely on its own, but it was going to come up eventually.

I wasn't one to hold grudges; especially this long after the fact, so I shook my head and assured him that there weren't any. This didn't really make anything less weird between us, but all the same he was glad that I wasn't angry at him for that whole business. Ilosovic did warn me, on the other hand, that we were the only people in Marmoreal that knew anything about it, and that it would be wise not to mention it around anyone.

"Trust me, there's no danger of that happening." We finished the last steps and rejoined our group. After we'd all worn ourselves out a bit more, the whole lot of us retreated to the refreshments table to refuel for the next round.

Despite my many reassurances, most of them were paranoid that someone had spiked the punch with pishsavler or slipped some Upelkuchen into the cake, and were extremely cautious when they first sampled the buffet. I, on the other hand, knew from the lack of foul odor or overpowering sweet aroma that neither potions were present, and then proceeded to gulp down several goblets of whatever the drink was (_some bubbly purple liquid from Snud_) and a small handful of tarts. I jokingly offered some to Stayne, who only laughed and claimed to have had his fill of them many years ago.

"I don't suppose any of you would be willing to dance the Lobster Quadrille, would you?" Ilosovic tipped back his glass and downed his second drink.

"Wait, I thought the Gryphon or the Mock Turtle had to sing it…that everyone else who tried messed it up?" Tarrant stopped abruptly, searching all around for the mysterious beasts.

"I'm guessing that's them there?" his cousin asked. In response, there was a loud gasp from the crowd as the Queen came into view with a pair of feathery wings seeming to protrude from her shoulders.

We all turned toward the stage just in time to see Mirana ascend to the platform, with a great silver beast striding behind her, and something else following it. It was at least three feet taller than her, with the head of a bird and the body of a white lion. Even as far away as we were, it was abundantly clear that it had bright blue eyes, and that the angel-like wings belonged to it. The second being had the head, tail and hind legs of a brown and white cow, while the front legs and body were that of a large turtle.

It was hard not to gawk at them as we ran to join the formation for the dance in the center of the room. I took my place across from Tarrant, with Christian's wife to my right and Saleen on my left.

"Ladies and gentlemen, children, and other assorted guests, may I present to you the Gryphon. He will be performing the Lobster Quadrille-" she was interrupted by a thundering cheer and applause, "…accompanied by the Mock Turtle."

Zada spoke up for the first time since I'd met her, "Have you ever done one before? A quadrille I mean."

"Yes but…it's been awhile. I'd hardly count what I did earlier as dancing." The dances from my near-engagement party played through my head, but they didn't quite compare to Underland's.

"Good luck then. I'm not that great at it either." Saleen admitted.

"I guess that makes three of us then." I giggled.

Actually, judging by the looks on our partners' (_and Stayne's_) faces, make that six of us. I could also see the Tweedles partnered together, which would most likely end in a big to-do over who stepped on whose toes first. It won't help that no one else will be able to tell which of them stepped on the other's toe, as the Tweedles are nigh indistinguishable from one another.

"I'm surprised Tarrant's father isn't out here dancing. He's certainly got the energy for it!" I added.

"That's him being _**calm**_ and _**composed**_. Uncle Sam is awfully spry for a man his age," Zada admitted, "though I don't think Auntie Rose wants him doing figures after the _**last**_ ball they went to…" she sniggered.

"What happened?"

"Mention _Nidarian ale_ and _Mome Raths_ in the same sentence and you'll find out." and that was her final answer, besides her quiet laughter. I could only imagine what connection the two things held, and every possible situation involving them that I could think of was quite hilarious. We tried to contain our chortling, but it just wasn't working.

When the commotion finally died down, the Gryphon cleared its throat and began the song;

_"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail,_

_"There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail._

_See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!_

_They are waiting on the shingle- will you come and join the dance?_

_Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?_

_Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?_

We advanced forward twice, until we took the hands of our partners, and then we spun around three times together before trading off to whoever was to our left. The next step was to take the two steps back, and then to kneel down in preparation for the next figure.

_"You can really have no notion how delightful it will be_

_When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters out to sea!"_

_But the snail replied "Too far, too far!" and gave a look askance-_

_Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance._

_Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance._

_Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance. _

This was the tricky part; whoever we were across from had to throw us into the air, and then catch us only moments later. The kneeling down bit is so we could get some extra lift when we're catapulted upwards, and our partners could have a little extra time to brace themselves. Not to mention the fliers had to perform a somersault in midair. Again, we trade off to the left, and take two steps backward.

_"What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied._

_"There is another shore, you know, upon the other side._

_The further off from England, the nearer is to France-_

_Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance._

_Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?_

_Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?_

For a final time, we took two steps forward; our partners spin us twice before they form the outer circle with a bow, while I and the rest of the ladies seat ourselves in the floor as the inner circle. The music died away in the din of the crowd, and the Gryphon himself bowed before leaving the stage. The Mock Turtle ungracefully scrambled after him.

As I pulled myself to my feet, I realized with a start that the last partner I held was no one that I'd ever seen before. He didn't look too friendly; there was a sinister undercurrent to the smile he wore.

He boldly strode over to me, "That was highly remarkable for your first Lobster Quadrille. I'm actually rather impressed." There was a caustic tone to his compliment, and it was clearly not at all sincere.

"I don't believe we've met, sir…"

"Ah, yes of course. Arondight Thorne, the Knight of Diamonds."

"I'm Alice Kingsleigh."

His mismatched eyes narrowed, the sneer on his face intensifying, "Oh, so you're the little Overlander that this party is for? Well I must say…this is quite an honor; to be in the presence of such a renowned warrior." I hadn't the slightest idea of where all this animosity was coming from, as we'd never met until tonight, and frankly it was starting to frighten me.

"Oh, well thank you…but I'm afraid I'll be going now. I'm sure Tarrant must be looking for me-" it was a rather flimsy excuse, but it was the first one that came to mind, and was most likely true anyhow.

"Oh, I see…" His expression was one of mock surprise, "And here I thought we were getting along so well…"

"As much as I hate to disappoint, "Ilosovic suddenly appeared at my side, "I don't quite agree with that." The two of them glared each other down heatedly, neither of them giving an inch.

"And I'm sure you'd know _**all**_ about getting along with _**her**_, wouldn't you? After all, if you can't _**beat**_ them, _join_ them, as the old saying goes." Thorne growled.

Before either of us could form a retort, Mirana intervened, "If that is truly the case, Mr. Thorne, you had better hope that you will have the _**option**_ to join her as opposed to _**getting**_ beaten. She is quite capable of it, I can promise you that." She warned him before escorting myself and the Knave away, back to the area where our friends were gathered. We thanked her for running him off, and she returned to speak with the other royalty present at the ball.

The Hatter found us with no difficulty, mostly due to Stayne's towering height, and quickly took me by the hands, "So how'd you like it?" he was grinning from ear to ear, his breath slightly quickened. I wasn't sure if it was from the dancing or something else entirely.

"It was wonderful! You know something…I believe I've seen the Gryphon and Mock Turtle before. In one of my dreams about this place."

"Is that right?" he asked, "What were they like?"

"Well…" I began, trying to recall if it was, in fact, a dream at all, or if it was a memory.

_I had crawled through the mirror over the fireplace, after imagining that there was an opposite world on the other side of it, and had been traveling in this world for a long time when I came upon them. They were sitting together on a beach with grey sand and green water, moping about like the greatest tragedy had struck them. Every time one of them spoke, he would soon after burst into uncontrollable fits of sobbing and wailing, as if speaking brought him great sorrow. I had tried to ask them the way to wherever it was I was going, but instead of answering, they made me recite poetry from school and sang the most unusual songs. They tried, though unsuccessfully, to teach me the steps of the Lobster Quadrille, and I had left right after that._

"That was no dream, Alice dearest. You really did that." Tarrant corrected me, "That was the second time you'd come here…and you were on your way to Marmoreal for Mirana's coronation. I was there too!" he dropped one of my hands, lacing his fingers into the other as he led me to a balcony just off the ballroom. There was a bench right in front of the railing, and we were more than happy to rest ourselves on it.

"That's right! I remember the celebration after the ceremony…" some of its details probably should've stayed in the back of my mind, but it was almost impossible to forget how rowdy it had gotten as time had worn on. The party got so out of hand I was sent home for my own safety, and found myself in the armchair in front of the hearth, not knowing if I'd dreamed it all or not.

"Mmhmm…that was right before the war broke out." He mumbled, his voice trailing off and his eyes staring off into the night, "Before…before the…"

"Hatter?" my heart contracted in fear; was he about to have one of his outbursts? Had his mind finally slipped away? Had…had my absence already done that to him?

His bright green eyes suddenly drained of all color, turning a cold, dark grey, his hair faded to almost a beige or pale yellow, "_Alice_?" he whimpered.

I was beyond frightened now. This had never happened before, "Yes? Tarrant, what's wrong? Are you alright? What's going on?" his hands fumbled around, taking hold of my elbows and jerking me forward.

"_**Please**_Alice, _**please**_ don't leave me. _**Stay**_here with me…_don't go away_!" he looked like he would start crying at any moment. His clothes were fading and coming unraveled at the seams. He was literally falling apart.

Tears stung the corners of my eyes, "Oh no Hatter, I won't. Of course I won't…I'll stay here!" my arms flung around his shoulders, so I could hold him together for as long as possible, "I won't leave you, I promise. I'm right here, it's alright."

He still didn't calm down, nor did he become himself again, "Prom-promise me, Alice. Don't go! _Please_!"

Growing frantic, I cupped my hands around his face and tried to make him focus, "_**Hatter**_! _**Please **_Tarrant snap out of this! Wake _**up**_! _**Look at me**_!" nothing I did worked. He just kept babbling on about me not leaving him, which I had no intentions of doing in the first place. Why didn't he realize that? What made him think I would abandon him again?

Not knowing what else to do, I leaned towards him and pressed my lips to his, even if all it would do would be to quiet him down. He felt cold and clammy at first, like he had gotten sick, but he gradually warmed up and kissed me back. Much to my relief, when we pulled apart he was bursting with all his colors, his emerald eyes almost sparkled for a moment.

He wiped the tears from my cheeks, his mouth forming a frown, "I'm terribly sorry Alice, I didn't mean to scare you like that. It's just that…it's getting late and all and-" putting a finger to his mouth, I briefly silenced him.

"The time hardly matters. I'm not leaving. Not this time." The promise I'd made was not empty words; I had made up my mind, once and for all, "I'm staying with you Hatter."

This would be my last trip to Underland.

"You're absolutely _**sure**_ this is what you want? You _**do**_ realize that once you stay here, it's _**forever**_, don't you?" Absolem asked me this for what seemed like the hundredth time, "You'll never return to Overland after this. Your family will assume that you are safe, and will not search for you. Their memories of you will be vague and distant…but they will still remember you." He continued to repeat his warnings about strange happenings here of late as well, like he was trying to scare me off, but I reminded him that I'd already seen plenty of strange things in my time here.

I nodded once more, confirming that I understood the consequences of my choice. This is what I wanted, "Overland doesn't feel like home to me anymore. Ever since I went back, I've always felt that something was missing…and now that I'm here, I feel like I've found it." Tarrant's hand had never left mine after I promised him I'd stay. He was positively giddy, having hunted down everyone we knew to tell them the wondrous news. All of our close friends and his relatives had gathered in the throne room with us to hear my final decision for themselves.

The Butterfly flitted around the room, landing at last on the edge of the Looking-Glass Portal, "Very well. The doorways between the worlds will be allowed to close, and you will henceforth be and Underlander, Miss Kingsleigh." He tried to hide a small smile, but couldn't conceal it well enough.

No one else even bothered themselves with covering up their enthusiasm; there was cheering and applauding, and many welcoming embraces. Mallymkun, however, didn't share in the joy, and instead stalked out of the room angrily muttering something under her breath. None of us saw her for the rest of the night.

Amidst the merriment, the Knave stopped for just a second and wondered aloud, "Where are you going to live though?"

A flurry of offerings for lodging flew around me, from the White Queen promising me my very own room in the castle, to the March Hare saving me a seat at the table for tea. Some of the others that lived outside of Mirana's domain even suggested coming to stay with them, but my housing was already spoken for. The Hatter boldly announced that I would be moving in (_though moving __**what**__, I don't know_) with him, and none of them seemed to object to the decision.

After that was settled, we trooped back to the slowly diminishing party, whose majority had been claimed by sleep. It wasn't much longer before we followed suit, and I returned to the room I'd occupied last time to get some rest. Tarrant was in the room next door, and kindly escorted me to my door and gave me a sweet kiss goodnight on the cheek before going to bed himself.

The two of us would be riding home tomorrow evening, after the other guests had left.

To our home, together. I loved the sound of that.


	6. Toll of the Wedding Bells

_**Chapter Five –**_

_**Toll of the Wedding Bells**_

_**T**_wo weeks had flown by since Alice's "welcome home" party in Marmoreal. She was busy settling in to her new place with the Hatter, and growing closer to him with every passing day. Meanwhile, my jealousy had gotten the better of me, and I had actively avoided the both of them whenever possible. I refused to be present while she pulled my best friend further and further away from me, especially not while she denied doing it. Any idiot could see right through her little act…she was only doing this to drive me out for good. She didn't want him around any other girls, even a little mouse like me, and he just went right along with it! They rarely ever came to Marmoreal, and more often than not he was absent from our tea parties unless she came along too.

When I did have to be around them, however, I started to notice gradual changes in Alice's appearance…her lips were a darker pink, her eyes had shifted from pale hazel to a bright shade of fuchsia, her hair was no longer dirty blonde, but was now truly yellow, her eyelashes and her already light skin were both snowy white. This phenomenon was occurring due to the fact that she was around the Hatter so much, and that he'd started up his hat making business again.

The mercury and whatever else that had turned his hair and skin different colors was now affecting hers, and that it was only a matter of time before colorful patches like the ones around his eyes and his cheeks would appear on her. McTwisp and Chessur got into several heated discussions over what colors hers would be, though neither of them ended up being right.

However, there was _**one**_ thing everyone had seen eye to eye on that soon came to be…

They'd been talking about the eminent event from the very day she returned to the world below; all of us knew it was coming sooner rather than later. The matter of debate was when it would happen. Stayne was the bearer of the news, and came galloping in at full speed, grinning like a fool all the while. He didn't even have to speak for the Butterfly, March Hare, the White Rabbit and myself to know what he was coming to tell us, but they let him say it anyway, "Tarrant just asked Alice to marry him, just yesterday…and she said yes!"

"Good heavens lad! Why didn't you find me and tell me? This news must be spread quickly!" Nivens hopped excitedly onto a taller mushroom to get closer to the Knave.

"Sorry, I had to send out messengers to the other kingdoms to let them know, and by the time that was over you were already back home. There's going to be a huge engagement party in a few days, by the way, so be expecting your invitations soon."

"Wait…the other kingdoms are all coming back to Marmoreal? They _**just**_ left!"

Absolem rolled the Oraculum up and placed it in its hiding spot, "This is the first time an Overlander and Underlander have gotten married in several centuries; I don't think anyone who can spare the time would want to miss such an occasion. You only get to see the wedding of the millennium once in your life, after all."

"Have they set a date for the wedding?" the White Rabbit wrung his paws excitedly.

Stayne shook his head, "Not yet, they still have a lot of planning to do. There's a tailor that's supposed to be coming tomorrow I think, all the way from Snud, to help Alice with her dress and Tarrant with his suit."

The Butterfly, at the mention of the tailor's arrival, had a strange gleam in his eye that I'd seen many times before. He knew something that none of us did, and he wasn't about to tell us what it was either. No matter how much we would later beg, plead, and beseech him, his lips would remain sealed. Ilosovic must not have noticed, or was simply brushing it off, as he didn't say anything or cast the rest of us any confused glances.

Bidding us fairfarren, the Knave of Hearts did an about-face and disappeared into the swirl of blue smoke and mushroom caps, his grey cape flying out behind him. I waited for the thud of his stallion's hooves to die away before I turned to Absolem and stood up.

"Why didn't you say anything? You knew all along, didn't you?!" I snapped, resisting the urge to draw my weapon against the lot of them.

"It was not my place to tell anyone. Ilosovic and the other messengers were to be dispatched for that exact purpose, so there was no need for me to interfere." He replied, puffing his smoke out like a chimney.

"Oh, I'm bloody sure there wasn't! I'll just bet there was no reason at all!" there was no use in holding back now, "That's just fine Absolem, just grand. I guess I'll go help spread the news! G'bye boys!" with a wave over my shoulder, I stormed off into the Mushrooms to a chorus of "what's gotten into Mally?" and "what's she so mad about?"

They just didn't understand…none of them did. Or could.

Tears began flowing before I got out of sight good, spilling down my fur and into my hands. This was all my fault…I should've told Tarrant how I felt, but now it was too late. He was getting married to "the girl of his dreams" and I would be left out in the cold. The Hatter would never feel the same way about me as I do him, and now it was more than certain.

My tiny body was so racked with sobs that I couldn't continue on to my home, so instead I fell to the ground and just let the tears fall where they may. I didn't care who saw, or heard. All I wanted was my Hatter, "Why Tarrant? Why did you do this? Why?" he wasn't there, but the need to ask him these things was. I just didn't understand, and I especially didn't understand why he wouldn't tell me and Thackery first. We were supposed to be his best friends, weren't we?

Suddenly, a rustling in the bushes jolted me from my sorrow and replaced it with a twinge of fear, "W-who's there? Sh-show yourself! I'm armed." Drawing my hatpin dagger, I jumped upright and went on guard. The water in my eyes blurred my sight, but that could be easily fixed if need be.

There was no reply except for more rustling, "H-hello?" my hands quivered, both from crying and out of terror. I could hardly hold onto my sword for my fingers getting clammy. Leave it to me to run off and get into trouble with no one around to help!

A few seconds later, a head emerged from the shrubs just ahead of me, followed by a much smaller one. Two other mice had just scared the life out of me…

"Excuse me miss, can you show us the way to the White Queen's castle? I am afraid we got separated from our traveling party." His pale green eyes stood out from his black fur, and the white patch running down his nose made them even more prominent. There was a white place under his right ear too, and three tan ones down the side of his face. The smaller mouse was a girl, a much younger one, wearing a little pink dress and matching bow. Her fur was the same color as my fur, only she had black spots where mine was solid brown, and her eyes were hazel green.

"Oh! Sorry, you all startled me-"

"A thousand apologies miss! I did not mean to frighten you, not at all!" he quickly apologized before I could get another word in edgewise, "We didn't know anyone was out here…but we thought we heard voices, so we followed them, and found you."

Wiping my tears off on my sleeve, I sheathed my sword, "It's alright. Marmoreal's not far from here, I can take you if you want." I sniffled, hoping he wouldn't notice, "Were you with the welcome party a few weeks ago?"

"Well, we were. But we got lost… and we've been wandering around the forest ever since." He confessed sheepishly, shifting the tiny girl to his other side. Her thin arms wrapped around his neck, and she laid her head on his shoulder drowsily.

I stifled a gasp, and quickly began to escort them in a westerly direction. How in the world had they survived out here for half a month? And more importantly, how had they not found anyone to guide them in that time? Western Underland isn't that big, even for a mouse! Surely there had been someone out here that could've helped the two of them…right?

"Miss? What is your name?"

"Hmm? Oh, Mallymkun, but everyone calls me Mally for short." In reply, I asked for his name, and the name of his small companion.

"Romedeluna, that is my given name, but like yours, mine is often shortened to Romy. This is my niece Aurora; her parents were lost in the war…we all lived in Nidaria together with the rest of our family." Romy's ears drooped slightly, but his small smile remained as he looked at me.

His eyes left me with a strange feeling deep down, one that tugged and tugged at me, but never fully expressed itself. It wasn't a bad feeling, necessarily, but it certainly wasn't a familiar one either. It made me a little nervous, to be completely honest.

"I've never really had much of a family, actually…one of my friends found me out here, in this very forest, when I was smaller than your niece. He took me home with him, and that's where I grew up." Sadness overcame me once more as I remembered that moonless night in the pouring rain, when Tarrant carried me home in the palm of his hand. His father made a matchbox bed for me, with a swatch of cloth for a blanket. His mother sewed my clothes for me. The other children came to meet me the next day, and we became inseparable by everything but war after that. And now all that was about to be lost.

Romy grew concerned, "Miss Mally? Is everything alright?" he stepped closer, putting his free hand on my shoulder. Tears spilled out again, though I'd tried to hold them back this time.

"Now…he's g-getting married, and I-I'll lose him!" wiping my eyes again and again was pointless, as was making any attempt to stop. Romedeluna quickly laid Aurora on a nearby mushroom and then stood in front of me, with both hands now on either side of me.

"Please, please don't cry Miss Mally! It'll be alright, really…" he pulled me into a warming embrace that I couldn't bring myself to wiggle away from, "I thought the same thing when my little sister got married to Aurora's papa. I thought that I'd never see her again, and that she would become someone I didn't know." His hand smoothed the fur behind my ears comfortingly, and I found myself melting into it, "But do you know what happened?"

I shook my head, "Mm-mm…"

He pulled back so that we were face-to-face, his jade eyes caught in the sunlight, "I did not lose my sister after the wedding. She remained the same as she had been, only much happier. And do you know what else? I gained a brother, through her husband, and a niece from both of them." Romy smiled, taking my hands in his, "I think, if you give this girl a chance, you may find yourself a sister, Mally, and maybe some little ones will come along someday too."

I hadn't thought of it like that…I hadn't given Alice much of a chance to be friends with me. Not even last time she was here. The thought of other girls being around the Hatter had always bothered me; I was just the jealous type I suppose. Especially with her. She'd stolen his heart the moment they met, and it just frightened me to think that she would steal him from the rest of us in doing so. What I'd failed to realize is that she hadn't, even after all this time that they'd fancied each other…he'd still hung around after she left the first time, he still spoke to everyone the second time, though he did get worse than ever the third time around, he came back as soon as she did. Maybe Alice wasn't so bad after all, "Oh there's no doubt about that last bit. Shouldn't be long either." It did cheer me up a tad to think of little Hatters running about the castle grounds, and the thought of little Alices running beside them wasn't half so terrible.

Romy laughed softly, "And look at it this way, if both of you love him as much as I think you do, then he is a very lucky man. Some are not fortunate enough to have the love of their wife and their best friend…some have none at all." His paws remained linked with mine; we'd been standing like this for several minutes now and I hadn't even noticed.

"You're not wrong there."

He lowered his voice, ever so slightly, "He is indeed fortunate to have a friend such as yourself…and whoever should become your husband will be luckier still."

My breath abruptly left me in one fell swoop, along with a trace of my dignity. Color rushed up to my face beneath my fur, and words were suddenly difficult to come by, "Oh…well I…" there wasn't a part of me that didn't feel like a big puddle of goo. Being a tomboy all my life, I'd often scoffed at sweet nothings whispered between sweethearts and had banished all thoughts of such things from my head, but now that it was aimed at me all I could do was blush and stammer.

He seemed worried that he'd gone too far, that he'd said too much, but I assured him that I was only in a bit of shock; no one that knew me had ever said anything like that to me before. His expression seemed disbelieving, but he just shook his head rather than arguing and roused Aurora from her sleep, "Come little one, you've napped long enough. Time to stretch your legs!" she rolled over and started trudging ahead of us, mumbling all the while.

"Well come on then! Rushing mwe about!" she grumbled, taking one of his paws and pulling him along behind her. He continued the chain by reconnecting the two of us, and we went on towards Marmoreal in this fashion for some time. That is, until we realized we were going the wrong direction. When we changed course, he'd picked her up onto his shoulders and hooked arms with me.

"_Perhaps I should run off into the Mushroom Forest more often..._" I thought to myself. I'm sure Romy would agree.

Tarrant and I sat comfortably on the sofa in my room of the castle, nestled together with a book in front of us. We'd spent a good many of our evenings like this, and we'd almost completely gone through his library at home. It was impossible to put these books down, especially the adventure novels! They were much wilder than the ones I'm used to. Pirates of the sea and cowboys from America had nothing on the fearsome knights and monsters that Underland authors wrote of, not at all!

As I reached the end of a particularly intriguing chapter, the Hatter whispered quietly to me, "Alice?" his vibrant red hair tickled my cheek when he leaned in.

"Yes darling?"

He paused for a moment, his finger tracing up and down the length of my arm, then he sighed contentedly, "I love you, Alice."

It had taken me quite a while to get used to hearing that from him, and it still hadn't really dawned on me that I was engaged to this madman, so I still got butterflies (_pardon the expression, Absolem_) in my stomach whenever the Hatter said it, "I love you too, Tarrant." I leaned back further and kissed him on the cheek, watching as the pink flashed brighter for a brief moment. His eyes sparkled like fireworks, and his arms pulled me in tighter as he planted a kiss somewhere in my wild, yellow hair.

The book was abandoned so that our fingers could intertwine, our mismatched engagement rings catching the setting sun's rays in their gems. Mine was thin and silver, dotted with round, blue jewels arranged in a line around the middle, that somewhat reminded me of the Vorpal Sword. His, however, was a thick bronze band with little emerald squares in no particular pattern; made to match his madness rather than the ring on my finger. He had been in league with Mirana and Queen Rubi to have these, and our actual wedding bands, made by the finest jeweler in Queast, there was no doubt about it. There was certainly no one I knew in Marmoreal that could've made these.

"Hatter?" now it was I who requested his attention.

"Yes, love?"

I giggled, feeling the blush coming to my cheeks, "I wonder…if anyone here is jealous of _**me**_?" I tilted my head to one side and winked at my future husband.

The Hatter seemed to ponder this for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully, "I don't see why not. Any girl would be jealous of someone with as much muchness as you, not to mention bravery…and _beauty_ of course." Now his cheeks were flushed too, but he was still smiling.

"That's not what I meant. I wonder if they're jealous that I'm marrying the man of my crazy, mad, wonderful dreams?" my head rested in the crook of his neck, forehead resting on his jawline.

The colors in his clothes faded ever so slightly and he sighed, "Mally is…that's why she's always so cross with you." Tarrant rubbed the fabric of my gloves between his fingers, "She's been that way since I can remember. And not just with you; any other girl that came within arm's length of me was within range of her hatpin." He huffed, not so much in annoyance, but as if he was trying to hold his composure, which he was unable to do.

I twisted around to face him and raised myself up so that I was hovering above him in an attempt to look menacing, "So there were other girls then, were there?"

His pupils widened in fear, "Oh good heavens no! Not _other girls_ in _**that**_ sense…she went after some of my cousins once just for being around me too much! And the White Queen too!" he added as an afterthought.

"Indeed…" I smirked teasingly, "I'll just bet that no other girl ever paid you any attention whatsoever." Our noses touched, their inhaling and exhaling becoming entangled and indistinguishable from one another. He grinned deviously.

"That's what dear ol' Ilosovic was for; he distracted the girls from neighboring villages and took the flak from my cousin Luna for it while I mooned about over you. Good lad, he was." His chuckling was uncontrollable and contagious, and soon turned into downright chortling.

"Couldn't beat all the girls off with a stick, could he? Poor thing…"

"In some cases, that was a literal problem. Some of these girls were ruthless with a sword…Luna was his girlfriend and she didn't even take it easy on him most of the time!" he tried in vain to fully describe the many predicaments the young Knave had gotten himself into (_and out of…_), but just ended up getting another giggle at his friend's expense. I can only imagine how many of the situations Stayne had found himself in that Tarrant had instigated somehow or another, "But they loved each other, so none of that tomfoolery mattered. She knew the only real threat to them was Bluddy Behg Hid…and Luna would've taken her on if she could have."

"What about Christian? Surely he shared your problems as well."

"Quite the opposite really. But to hear him tell it, he had it worse than both of us combined." Tarrant rolled his eyes at his cousin, and we both chuckled quietly.

As our laughter died down a bit, the whinny of horses could be heard coming across the drawbridge, pulling a coach behind them. That must be the tailor that's come to make my wedding gown and Tarrant's suit…

I had always thought that I'd have to wear my mother's wedding dress when I got married, but with no way to get her or it down here, I was actually going to get my own. I was also under the impression that my father would walk me down the aisle, but that wouldn't happen either. Though I missed both of my parents and my sister Margaret dearly, this is the life that I have chosen…and if I had the chance to go back, nothing would change. _**This**_ is where I belong.

"Perhaps we should go speak with the seamstress now. I shouldn't want to delay our wedding _**any**_ longer than necessary…" the Hatter pried me from the sofa and led me out of the door, one arm around my waist, to the courtyard.

I heard the carriage before I saw it, the wheels creaking and the horses' feet clicking against the cobblestone. Dad and I had been out back dueling for most of the morning; there were _**several**_ years of training from him that I'd missed, but now we had all the time in the world to catch up on it, and other things too. He told me all about living in Queast, the Diamond queendom, and about how they'd found Samuel and Rosalynn just a few years ago while they were traveling to Snud. They'd found a small handful of others that had survived the years after the Horunvendush fire, but despite the fact that most of Tarrant's family had actually made it out alive…there was still no sign of Luna. No one had heard from her or seen her since that day.

She was really gone. She wasn't coming back.

Cradling my sore arm where the rap of my father's training saber had stung through my sleeve, I followed him towards the door of the castle where Tarrant and Alice were emerging, hand in hand as always. How I envied them, how I wish that were me and Luna… It _**could've**_ been, someday, if it hadn't been for that blasted Red Queen and her stupidity and stubbornness! If she'd just let me go, let me stay with my family, Luna and I could've been _**happy**_ together… we could've gotten married, could've had children of our own eventually.

But _**no**_, she had to have me all to herself…and if _**she**_ couldn't, no one could.

Still musing about the injustice of it all, I failed to notice when a small body bumped into my leg until the voice that went with it cried out, "Oh! I'm sowwy sir, I didn't see you there…" a little girl with azure eyes and mauve hair gazed up at me from just below my knee. She couldn't have been any older than Elias.

"That's alright…say, where'd you come from? I haven't seen you around here before." There had been many children here the night that Alice returned, but few of them were as young as this one was. Christian's son Remy was about the same age, maybe a little older.

"I just came in with my mummy and sister. Mum's going to make a dress for a lady here." She said, turning towards the carriage that sat in the courtyard. An even smaller girl, barely out of infanthood, stood next to the wheel. She had curly blue hair and bright pink eyes, and only four little teeth, "_**My**_ name is Madalya, and _**that's**_ Ezrabeth. What's yours?" Madalya stuck up her hand as far as she could reach, and I still had to lean down to take it.

"Ilosovic. So your mother is the seamstress for Alice's wedding, is she?" I silently watched as the woman descended from the coach with several bags under her arms. She laid most of them at her feet to scoop up her youngest daughter, and to greet the Hatter and his wife-to-be. As she turned, his face suddenly changed and he said something to her, while Alice stood at his side, confused. Madalya's mother jumped, as if she'd been shocked, and then broke into a smile. Clearly they'd recognized each other from somewhere, but I didn't have the slightest clue as to where. Even Alice knew who she was, so she was obviously someone who she'd met when we were children. No one I remembered from Crims or anyone in Marmoreal looked like this; she had lavender hair down to her waist, and silver-grey eyes that shone like sunlight on water.

It wasn't until she started looking for her eldest child, and our eyes met that I realized who was standing mere feet from me…

And my heart nearly stopped.

My breath evaporated from my lungs, escaping through my gaping mouth into the closing space between us. Afraid that I couldn't hold her up with my trembling hands, I put Ezzie down and sent her to Mady, who was standing behind him wondering what was going on.

She was standing behind Ilosovic.

Ilosovic Stayne, whom I'd thought was dead or worse, chained to that awful Red Queen in the middle of the Outlands. I almost didn't believe it was him, and he obviously didn't believe it was me. But there was no mistaking that face; the scar over his eye, the way his black hair fell, and his towering height. There was no one else it could be.

"'Loci?" was all I could manage before the tears started pouring out.

He didn't even get a word out before he wrapped me in his arms and pulled me off the ground, my feet dangling at least two feet in the air, "Luna, you're alive! You're here and you're alive!"

I didn't know what else to say but to repeat that to him over and over again; he was here and alive. We were both here and alive. We were together again at last.

Years and years of longing and heartache vanished when we kissed at last; it felt like a cloud had parted after a long storm, and he was the ray of sunlight that broke through the grey (_despite the fact that he was wearing grey_). Never have I felt such joy to see a single person in all my life!

Reluctantly, we pulled back enough to actually look at one another and take all of each other in, and he put me back on the ground. He was still the same 'Loci I remembered deep down, but the years we spent apart obviously weren't very kind to him; his once bright brown eyes had faded and grown a layer of ice over them. They weren't as soft as they once was, and neither was he…he'd been through too much to remain that way. Still, I wished that the boy from my youth would have had a chance to grow up, rather than becoming trapped inside a tired, weary shell.

His scar had faded too, so it was hardly there anymore except for a thin indention running down his cheek and through his eyebrow. But that was only the physical side of it…the mental side of it most likely still ran deep and piercing. I know mine did, though they had no external counterparts.

"I can't believe…you…you're ok. You're actually here." He whispered, struggling to hold his own tears in. Even though I'd gained a few inches in height since we'd last met, he still had to kneel down to be face-to-face with me when he spoke.

"Never mind me, how did you get here? From what I understand, you should've been banished with Iracebeth." I couldn't stand to be away from him for even a moment now that we'd been reunited, so we were in another embrace within seconds, "Not that I'm complaining, of course…"

Ilosovic sniffed and chuckled, "Can't say that I am either. I was out there with her until Dad found me and brought me home. And that wasn't too long ago either, that I came back I mean."

My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, "But…you were sent out on the Frabjous Day…that was years ago! How did you survive out there until your father got to you?" I turned away for only an instant, and caught sight of his father in the doorway behind Tarrant and Alice. Alexander hadn't changed a bit.

The younger Stayne shrugged, "It's all really just a blur now…I don't honestly remember much about it. Beside the fact that it was always scorching hot during the day and blistering cold at night. I suppose you'll have that in the desert though."

My grin widened a bit, "Oh, so you did pay attention during those geography lessons, did you? I'm sure our old tutor would be pleasantly surprised." Teasingly, I reminded him of the dreadful school lessons we all had to sit through in our youth. He and my cousins had a highly difficult time paying any mind to the teacher, as they were often too busy giving me, Zada, and Mirana trouble. It was a miracle that they weren't held back on several occasions…for several reasons.

Indignantly, he huffed, "Is that right? Now I hate to burst your bubble, darling, but if I remember correctly, it was the girls that always needed extra tutoring after class!" he was smirking devilishly, like the fiend he was.

"Yes, because you boys wouldn't leave us alone during the regular one! We had to have some peace and quiet to get our work done."

"I resent that."

"But you don't deny it?"

His mouth opened like he was about to say something back, but he stopped and sighed in defeat, still smiling all the while. I had come out victorious as usual…it was as if we had just picked up where we left off.

All except for one small detail. Or two, rather.

"Mum? How do you know him?" Mady tried to balance her little sister on her hip, but to no avail, since Ezzie was nearly as tall as her despite their age difference. My eldest eyed him with suspicion, whereas the youngest watched him curiously.

We both turned to address my daughter, "Mady, do you remember all those stories I told you? About when I was a little girl? When I lived here?"

She nodded, not letting 'Loci out of her sight.

"Do you remember the little boy I told you about? That lived with the queen and snuck out to see me a lot?"

She nodded again. The realization was dawning on her, slowly.

"Well, this is that little boy in the stories, only he's all grown up now, like Mummy is." Her eyes shifted from him to me and back a few times, a small scowl forming on her lips.

"Oh…alright then." Was all she said. Madalya then proceeded to stand Ezrabeth on her feet, give us a short curtsy, gather her bags and flounce off into the castle. She spoke briefly to Tarrant and Alice before she disappeared inside, "I'll be finding our room if you need me!" she called over her shoulder to me.

Ilosovic looked guilty, like he thought he'd done something wrong, "She didn't look too happy when she figured out who I was…what did you tell her about me Luna?" he shifted nervously.

"I told her who you were to me. That's all I told her." Pausing for a moment, I took a deep breath before finishing my answer, "But that's only part of it…you see…their father died not too long ago. It hit her hard; they were very close, and she hasn't quite gotten over it just yet."

His heart sinking down to the soles of his feet was visible just through his eyes, "Oh, I'm so sorry Luna. I didn't know-"

"It's alright…it wasn't your fault." I smoothed his hair down, resting my hand on his cheek while Ezzie tugged at my dress, begging to be picked up, "Hmm, it seems that she doesn't mind you too much." As I reached down to grab her, he beat me to it and cradled her in his long arms. The baby smiled, flashing her nubby teeth and taking a handful of his hair and tugging at it.

His gaze traveled from her to the engaged couple in the courtyard, and his lips twisted up into a crooked smile, "Speaking of children, since Alice and the Hatter are getting married soon, it won't be long until you have some new cousins." He snickered, raising up to his full height. Ezzie was amusing herself by trying to pick off the scales on his armor.

"I give it a month. Tops."

"I say two."

"Two is a bit long, don't you think?" another voice added. It turned out to be Christian, who'd been summoned by Tarrant upon my arrival. Zada stood at his side with a little boy in tow.

We exchanged greetings and our whereabouts after the Horunvendush Day; I was as surprised to learn that they had escaped as they were to see me. Their son, Remy, also told me that Uncle Sam and Mother Rose had survived the fire as well, and were waiting inside with Ilosovic's parents.

Trying to contain my excitement, I practically dragged 'Loci through the doors so that our family reunion could be completed. It wasn't long until we found Sam and Rosalynn piddling around in the kitchen with Mirana, who was also stunned to see me alive and well. Madalya eventually turned up later on, which allowed the rest of the family to meet both of my girls.

With Iracebeth gone and all of these people here in Marmoreal happy and free, it was almost like the war never even happened. Everything seemed to be back to the way it once had been…

Almost.

Upon settling herself and her two daughters in, Luna jumped right into the task of designing my wedding gown and veil. However, before she would begin, she had to shoo the men from the room for the time being, which earned protests from the four younger ones. Sam and Alexander were then saddled with the task of keeping their sons, nephew, and grandnephew busy until their mothers and wives (_girlfriend, in Ilosovic's case_) were done with this whole ordeal. Madalya was also sent out to play with Remy, but instead decided, against her mother's wishes, to go back to their room and take a nap, though she had just woken up not more than an hour ago. I could fully empathize with her being tired from a long journey (_or at least I assume that it was a long journey from Snud_), but Luna stated that she wasn't entirely sure that was the case.

"She's not sleepy, she's upset that she had to leave home and come all the way out here. She hasn't left our village since she lost her father…I could barely get her out of the house." She sighed as she sorted through bundles of fabric on the table, "But I couldn't leave her all alone. She's too young to stay by herself when I'm this far off."

Mother Rose put a comforting arm around her niece, "Don't worry dear, she'll come 'round. Suddenly having a family this big takes some getting used to, especially with all this excitement going on."

"I know how she feels…I lost my father when I was young too." It had always felt like he was the only one who understood me, who understood my dreams about Underland. When he died, it was like I'd lost part of my connection to this world. Like all the wonder had been taken out of me at once, "Not as young as her, but not much older."

"Ezzie doesn't remember her father. She was hardly big enough to stand up when he died." She lingered on a spool of silk, her fingers stroking the smooth surface, "She seems rather fond of Ilosovic though. I think he could've been a good father someday, if he'd gotten the chance." Her wistful tone implied that she had once hoped that he would be her children's father, and the ire beneath it suggested that she fully blamed the Red Queen for the fact that he wasn't.

In the following silence, I pondered the possibility of the two of them having children together; what they would've been like, how old they would be now, if they would have children of their own. It dawned on me just how unfair things had been under Iracebeth's rule, and how different things could've been. Should've been.

"Well, on the one hand," Jasmin picked through a basket of sewing needles that hadn't found their way onto my fiancé's pincushion ring, "at least you know the little one isn't afraid of heights."

Everyone in the room suddenly burst into fits of giggles, and the cheerful mood was quickly restored as we actually got to work.

Designs were sketched on scraps of paper and materials were measured out, using both myself and mannequins that were haphazardly scattered about the room. We experimented with with different sleeves and bodices and skirts, but in Luna's silver eyes, none of the whole ensembles seemed to fit together. I personally loved all of them down to the seams, but she wasn't satisfied with the fit of this one on my arms, or the skirt on the other one wasn't long enough, or something of that nature. It got to the point where she completely discarded one spool of material because she disliked it so much.

In contrast to her indecisiveness, Jasmin and Zada finished my veil in a matter of minutes between one of her do-overs, complete with a bejeweled butterfly tiara to hold it in place. The only argument there was whether I should put my hair up or just leave it down, in which case Mother Rose took the victory with it staying down.

Luna, meanwhile, hung listlessly over her chair in defeat, fresh out of ideas and nearly out of fabric. Eleven different dresses were displayed, each just as beautiful as the rest, but still lacking something that only she could see.

"At this rate, you'll be wearing the dress you have on if I can't come up with something." She moaned, her face buried in her arms.

"We haven't set a date yet, so there's no need to rush." I tried to reassure her that there was no hurry to get this done, but this didn't seem to get through to her.

"Yes, I know, but I'd prefer not to be stitching the the thing together the night before-"

Luna's head jerked up suddenly, her gaze wandered over the row of gowns in front of her and a smile formed on her lips, "That's it!" she practically leapt out of the chair and started unpinning things from the dummies. She took the blue skirt off of the fifth one, the bustle and train from the seventh one, the bodice from the second one, and the sleeves of the tenth one, and commanded that I stand perfectly still. I followed her with my eyes only, for fear of getting pricked, watching as the pieces of my gown fell into place.

When the last of them was in position, the others stepped back to admire the beginnings of the wedding dress. I was shuffled over to a mirror to take a look myself, and was very astonished by what was looking back at me.

The front of the silver bustle fit perfectly over the blue petticoat, the white long sleeves melded perfectly with the bodice's off-the-shoulder sleeves. The design on the front of the gown reminded me of my Frabjous Day armor a bit, the way it was split down the middle. There was even a big blue bow down the back of the train.

"It's perfect! It's absolutely perfect!" it was a struggle not to bounce up and down with excitement. Jasmin, Rosalynn and Zada all agreed.

"That's all I needed to hear." Luna grinned proudly.

After hours and hours of waiting not so patiently outside in the courtyard, the male population of Marmoreal was allowed back inside the castle walls. I immediately ran to where I knew Luna would be; the sewing room. She'd have kept us out all night and into tomorrow if she wasn't totally enamored with the dress she was making. But, such is perfectionism.

I knocked lightly on the door, using the pattern we had created when I was forced to sneak out of Crims in the dark of night just to see her, so that she would know who it was… provided that she had remembered it too.

"You can come in now, 'Loci."

When I opened the door, she hadn't yet torn her eyes away from her work. Tarrant's ceremonial kilt, passed down from his father and his father before him, had already been repaired and patched up, and was waiting for its companion garment to be finished. The dress.

"I see you've finally decided on the dress then?" she looked up then, her fingers not stopping their needlework.

"All it took was the proper inspiration…"

"And five hours."

She glared at me playfully out of the corner of her eye, "Well, would you have Alice running about on her wedding day in something that took me five minutes?" she shot back. My silence indicated that I would not, so she said nothing further and went on sewing effortlessly.

"Somehow I don't think she'd let me have a say in that matter. Quite frankly I'm shocked that she's letting me be in the wedding at all. We didn't exactly part ways on good terms last time she was here."

"So I've heard. Alice was talking about it earlier while we were working on her dress." A devious grin spread across her face, "She told me how she escaped Iracebeth's castle."

My face got warm, "The _whole_ story?"

"All the way up until she got here and Mirana filled in the rest."

"So that's why you wouldn't let the guys in, you were talking about us!" I hung my head partially in shame, but mostly to hide the fact that I was laughing at myself; I should've known this was going to get back to her sooner or later.

Luna, however, didn't even try to hide her laughter behind her hand, "You know, I thought to myself…you'd think he'd know how to talk to a girl after being with me for so long. Didn't I teach you _**anything**_, 'Loci?"

That was below the belt…but brutally honest. Needless to say I didn't have a comeback.

And she knew it, "Now, if you would be so kind as to not distract me…I have a dress to finish, darling." Her eyes had only once left the needle in her hands, but her progress hadn't slowed an inch.

"Oh, so now I'm _**distracting**_?" I hovered behind her, kneeling down so that we were level with each other. She didn't even turn her head.

"You've _**always**_been very distracting." My arms wound around her waist, and I let my head rest against her shoulder. She finally stopped working, taking my hands in hers, "I've missed your distractions…"

"I missed you too. I never thought I'd see you again Luna."

"You almost didn't. If your father hadn't brought you home, and I hadn't been out of town that night…" she paused, with a hitch in her breath, "Something –or someone– burned down the village that I'd been living in with the girls and their father. He died getting them out of our house…and they were left standing in the road, crying for me. Ezzie doesn't remember, but Mady has nightmares still." Luna choked back a sob, and I held her tighter. It killed me that she'd married someone else, that she'd thought I was so lost that she'd never find me again, but it was some consolation that whoever he was, he'd made her happy for a little while. And he'd given her her two daughters.

The baby, Ezrabeth, seemed to like me quite a bit. She had even let me pick her up. The eldest girl, Madalya, however, avoided me whenever she could, and wouldn't even speak to her mother when I was around. Luna thought that she was under the impression that I was trying to replace her father, which I wasn't, though I would be more than happy to help Luna with the girls if she needed me to. We'd always talked about having a family together someday, but for years I thought that all hope for that had been turned to ash. Now, even though it wasn't, I wasn't sure that's what she wanted anymore.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry the only thing I ever gave you was that locket. If I had sense I would've given you a _**ring**_ instead of that necklace…I just never got the chance to-"

Suddenly, the door on the other end of the room slammed shut, and little feet could be heard dashing down the hall. Mady had been listening the whole time.

I slowly stood, reluctant to leave her side for even a short time, "You should go talk to her…I suppose I'll be going now."

Luna shook her head, "She won't let me come near her. Not tonight. There wouldn't be any point in trying." She picked the remainder of the dress up and started back to sewing, "What ever happened to that chain, I wonder? I know I lost it during the fire…"

"I still have it…but I gave it to Absolem for safety. There was a demon scare when we went to get Alice, and it somehow got hold of the locket while we were there. As soon as he checks it out, I'll get it back to you." The locket had been the last birthday present I'd ever been able to give Luna; everything had gone downhill after that. Horunvendush Day came first, then Iracebeth had her husband killed right in front of me and everyone in the castle of Crims, I almost lost my eye to Thorne and only nicked his. Everyone thought I was either dead or a traitor, _**or**_ a dead traitor when I didn't come home after all that mess. Nothing much went my way for a long time.

As I turned to actually leave this time, Luna called out to me when I was halfway down the hall, "You'd better watch Absolem! He's subject to put something in that necklace himself…just hope that nothing pops out and scares you!"

"Don't you have _**work**_ you should be doing?!"

Her laughter followed me down the long corridor to my room, and even after the door was closed, I could hear it still ringing through my head. I have never longed to hear a sound that most people take for granted more than I wanted to hear her voice, to see something that most wouldn't even give a second thought to as much as I wanted to see her face every day. Every day wouldn't be enough really, not even if it were for the rest of my life.

And now, hopefully, that's how long I would have her, however inadequate it may be…


	7. New Witzend Nuptials

_**Chapter Six –**_

_**New Witzend Nuptials**_

__All the dresses and suits had been put together set out on mannequins for tomorrow, the day Alice would become my cousin's bride. I wasn't sure what I was more excited about; Alice and Tarrant finally getting married, or the fact that I was back home now, and that Ilosovic was here with me. It was extremely hard to choose between the two. The anticipation was so heavy in my mind, that it held my eyelids open long after they should have closed.

Tossing and turning for several minutes, I tried to get comfortable enough to fall asleep, but the crowded mattress wasn't aiding very much in that effort. Mady and Ezzie had been sleeping soundly since 10 or 11, but I'd made it all the way until 3 am without even dozing off. No matter what I did, sleep would not come to me. I was afraid that all my wiggling would wake Madalya up and that she'd beat me with the pillow, but she never budged, nor did her sister, who slept like a log.

I sighed inwardly, cursing insomnia and trying to count Mome Raths, but as I lay staring out my balcony window and watching the sky grow lighter, there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that something was lurking just out of my peripheral vision. Dark shadows would slink past the corner of my eye, just fast enough to evade my sight, and breezes would blow out of nowhere and ruffle the curtains or the sheets dangling off the mattress. Paranoia soon set in, and I knew that sleep might as well be forgotten.

However, in this instance, my nighttime anxiety proved to be somewhat valid, as no sooner had I got my mind to stop racing all over the place, than an _**enormous, horrid, black spider**_ suddenly crawled up from the solid stone floor. Its body was the size of a large spool of thread; its eight, needle-like legs were abnormally long and crooked in strange places. Though most spiders I've ever seen have eight eyes, this one only had two, and they pierced the darkness, ruby red and menacing.

It was hard not to scream at the top of my lungs when it started creeping closer, its legs bending in unnatural ways as it walked. The spider almost seemed to limp, but didn't lean on a particular side; both sides looked uneven.

As I searched in vain to find something to kill the monstrous bug with, a voice like nails on a chalkboard hissed out from between the spider's pinchers, "_No Queen cahn save you now, woman… butterfly wings will be brokahn like paper-theen glass. Dere is nowhere you cahn run. Marmoreal will fall soonah than you t'ink…its rock is already crumbling in my web._" Inky venom dripped from its fangs, staining the white marble with little black droplets.

Despite the cryptic threat on the White Queen's domain, I was really more concerned for my daughters' safety. In desperation, and for lack of a better weapon, I grabbed my pillow from under my head and cocked my arm back to throw it as hard as I could.

The spider lunged right as my fingers released it.

"_Alice?_" Mother Rose stirred me from my fitful pre-wedding day sleep. My nerves had been playing up all night, so I didn't get much rest before my big day. This had been the first night since I returned that Tarrant and I hadn't fallen asleep together, and thankfully it would be the last. No matter which way I had lain, it was very uncomfortable without him resting beside me, like there was a giant hole in the bed where the Hatter should've been.

His mother coaxed me out from under the sheets and handed me my housecoat as we made our way to the washroom, "Come along dear. We'll have you ready in no time." She pushed down the pump and filled the small basin with water. I took a small cloth from the edge of the sink and soaked it for a moment, staring at our reflections in the mirror. In a few hours, Rosalynn would be my mother-in-law, and I would be a member of the Hightopp Clan, just like her and Luna and Zada. I would be married to the right man for me, and I couldn't be any happier.

She caught me smiling and squeezed my shoulder, "I dreamt of this day since Tarrant was a little boy…when he first met you, he came and told me and his father that he'd found a girl that he liked more than any other girl he knew. He wished that you had stayed then and there, and that he didn't care if you weren't from Underland." She chuckled recalling her son as a boisterous child, "We both knew that he'd found the girl he wanted to be with, and we're glad to know that he finally got you back."

Wringing the cloth out and rubbing the sleep from my face, I smiled broader, thinking of the very first tea party I'd been to with Tarrant, "I'm more than glad to be back with him. There's nothing else like it…" Hamish had been a far cry from my ideal husband, and no other suitor that had come to call after that could quite live up to my expectations. The reason behind that became evident in the moment when I opened my eyes in Underland again…

None of them were mad enough for me.

Only the Hatter could match my "muchness" with his madness.

"I can imagine. Men that aren't mad in some degree are notoriously bland and unimaginative." Rosalynn took a nearby brush and started attempting to untangle my curls just as Zada came in, rolling the mannequin in with my dress on it and carrying a basket with my veil and several hairpins to hold it in. Mallymkun trotted in behind her.

"I guess that's why there's never a dull moment at our family's holiday parties…" Zada concurred with her aunt.

Curiosity struck me, "What sort of holidays do you have in Underland? I don't suppose I've ever been here during one…" one could only assume that the Frabjous Day was considered one, but surely there were more than that!

She made a few adjustments to the dress as she spoke, "Well, there's Shunder at the first of the year; that was the first day ever written on the Oraculum. Faldinal was when the Vorpal Sword was made… Weddings and birthdays always have big parties, and war victories too. There are seasonal carnivals in each royal province. Things like that." She finished, both talking and fixing the gown.

"What about in Overland?"

Christmas came to mind, and New Year's. Easter and Valentine's Day were thought of, as well as Thanksgiving. Another thought appeared to me while I was thinking on the subject; now that Underland is my home; I'll have to adjust to a whole new set of customs and traditions. Of course, Tarrant had enlightened me in the time between today and the day that I arrived, but was I really ready to live here and be apart of all of this?

I shook off the cold feet before they could take hold, reassuring myself that this is what I wanted for sure. Nothing was going to deter me from getting married today! Especially not myself.

"Say, I wonder where Luna could be? She's supposed to be in here with the dress." Zada observed her cousin's absence. It hadn't really struck me until she made note of it, "Should I go and fetch her?"

Mother Rose was about to respond when the door swung open and Mirana poked her head in, "Good morning everyone! I trust we're all excited about this afternoon?" she glided in gracefully, as always, and admired the dress.

"So excited that I didn't get a wink of sleep last night." I yawned, thankful that corsets were not a fashion statement down here, otherwise I'm pretty sure I would have cracked a rib just then.

"Tarrant just came out of his room a moment ago and said the same thing." The White Queen stroked my hair gently, "But don't you fret dear, I'm sure you'll both get more rest when you're together again." Her dark eyes were happy; as I'm sure mine were, until she too noticed that one body was missing from the room.

"Have you seen Luna this morning your highness? She hasn't come in yet."

Mirana looked puzzled, "Why no, I haven't today. Surely she isn't still asleep at this hour…" the sky had brightened significantly since I'd awoken, and it would seem highly difficult to sleep with the sun beaming through the windows into the brilliant white rooms.

The atmosphere became a little more tense; something just didn't seem right. Luna didn't seem like the type that would be late to something like a wedding, especially not one for someone in her family.

"Perhaps we should send someone to check on her…"

"Ilosovic?"

"Good heavens, no! If something did happen to her, he doesn't need to be the first to see it! Maybe the girls know where she is."

"No one's seen them either."

It was borderline panic when the door creaked open and, much to our relief, Luna stepped inside with her daughters trailing behind. All three of them looked like Death warmed over, with dark circles beneath their eyes and a sluggish step.

"I am so terribly sorry Alice, we didn't mean to sleep so long. All of us had horrible nightmares last night and didn't get any rest." Luna splashed some water on her face in hopes of waking herself up. The girls collapsed onto the small sofa by the door, and Mirana flitted off to the kitchen to whip up some sort of potion to give us all a kick start.

"We wouldn't have started without you. Are you alright?" I stepped down off the stool I'd been standing on to put a hand on her shoulder. She nodded, saying it was nothing more than a dream. Mady and Ezzie were too busy sleeping to respond.

"I dreamed that a spider attacked us in our bed; it was a strange spider, something was wrong with it. It was so real that I didn't even know I was dreaming until I woke up to the baby crying and Mady screaming her head off." Luna muttered, lowering her voice so that the children wouldn't overhear, "I couldn't make out what Ezzie was saying, but Mady said there was a bird of some sort chasing her from Marmoreal to Tulgey Wood." Her body was visibly shaking, trembling like a leaf in the wind. It was taking all she had not to fall apart, I could tell.

"Not to worry love, you're all safe here. It was only a dream." Mother Rose patted her hand gently. Luna nodded, seemingly reassured.

Mirana reappeared with a tray in hand, balancing several steaming cups of what looked like tea on it. She roused the children and handed them smaller glasses, and offered some to us as well. While the other women promptly began sipping theirs, I held mine in front of me for a moment, "Only if you promise not to tell me what's in this." The White Queen glanced up at me and chuckled, shaking her head.

"Not unless you ask."

After watching her make pishsavler, I don't see that happening at any point from here on out. Sometimes it's better not to know.

When the last drop of her beverage had left her cup, Luna wasted no time in getting my gown on me and then wrestling the rest of the girls into theirs. Mallymkun presented a particular issue, being that she didn't wear dresses for a start, and the fact that she was armed with her hatpin the entire time that we were attempting to get one on her. It was no small victory when she was finally dressed, but she had to be threatened to be stuck in a teapot during the ceremony and the reception if she tried to change clothes. I could tell her from experience that it wasn't a pleasant predicament to be in, so she finally stopped attempting to unbutton her bodice and instead pouted on a pincushion until it was time to leave.

Much to my surprise, she asked me to carry her to the carriage rather than scampering after the rest of the procession, insisting that she wanted to speak with me on the way to the altar. The Dormouse stepped into the palm of my hand as I held it out to her and then perched herself on my shoulder, her tiny paws resting against my bare skin. Had the front of my veil been down, she would've been underneath it.

"Alice?" she began quietly, for the first time that I knew of, "I'm sorry about how I behaved towards you last time. I reckon I was just jealous…since the Hatter liked you so much an' all." Her eyes were averted to the seat below me, only connecting with mine briefly.

"Oh Mally, there's no need to apologize! I'm not mad at all."

She glanced up skeptically, a grin forming on her muzzle, "You sure about that? You do know you're marrying the _**Mad**_ Hatter, don't you?" she chuckled.

Returning her smile, I winked, "Well, perhaps in _**that**_ sense I am a little bonkers."

"Totally barmy?"

"Completely of my rocker."

Satisfied, she crisscrossed her legs under the skirt as the wagon started out of the courtyard (_a gesture most improper by Overland standards; not that I cared_.) and nodded matter-of-factly, "Good. If you weren't, you'd really be getting yourself into something."

Just as I was forming a response, a scene up ahead of the buggy stopped me short of speaking…on either side of the road, what seemed like a hundred women and girls dressed in furs and pelts stood, watching us intently as we approached. Their skin was different shades of copper, aside from the black spirals that wound around their arms and bare bellies. Some of the older ones had them around their eyes too, with little loops and curlicues curving down their cheeks or across their foreheads. They were a strange and beautiful sight, like much of the rest of this land, and I wasn't sure what to say.

Luckily for my tied tongue, their leader, with tattoos covering so much of her skin that there was almost none of her natural tone left, spoke to break the stunned silence, "Hello your mahjesty, I trust dat everyt'ing is well dis morning?" her dress was different from the others, as it appeared to be made of cloth rather than the skin of some animal or bird, and carried a short staff wrapped in colorful beads and ribbon. She wore a crown that seemed to stem from one of her marks; dark and curling into ringlets atop her head. Her grey eyes studied the traveling party.

"Ah, there you are Allura! I was beginning to wonder where we'd find you." The White Queen greeted the mysterious woman happily, and then turned to beckon to me, "Alice, this is the Witch Queen of the Outlands. Allura, this is Alice, the girl from Overland I told you about in the letter."

Allura bowed her head in greeting to me, a kind smile stretching across her lips, "We meet at last, Warriah."

As usual, I was astounded by how quickly news traveled down here, "You've heard of me? About the Frabjous Day?"

She nodded, "Mirana's dominion was not de only one to suffah from her sista's rule…we ahre all greeatful to you for slaying dat terrible creacha." Her grin widened once more, "It's too bad dat you 'ad to return home so soon; you missed quite a bit of celebration…in all de kingdoms, and in our clan."

"I wanted to stay then…" I sighed heavily, "but I had some things to take care of at home."

"Dat is undahstandable, Alice. One must finish one quest before beginning anotha." She motioned for some of her fellow Outlanders to assign themselves to a carriage in our caravan, "Speaking of which, we'd bettah get ahn wit' dis one. De Hatter is expecting you, dear chil'."

Allura turned and took a place in front of the horses on my carriage, walking only a few steps ahead of their hooves, her cane dragging through the dirt and leaving what looked like droplets of pastel colored water in her path. Little sparks flew from the drops like fireworks.

"What _is_ that, Mirana?" I watched with curiosity as little curlicues spread across the ground and disappeared just as quickly as they arrived. The other Outlanders were leaving the little marks as well, though in their cases the drops were coming from beads that wound around their arms and ankles rather than canes.

"It's magic…for protection and good fortune. 'Tis traditional for the Tribe to be present at weddings to bless the ceremony." The White Queen replied, smoothing her dress, "Allura's brother will be the one to read you your vows, as he is one of the few who have the power to perform the binding spell." She went on to elaborate that Absolem could've done it, but with the activity around the Portals prior to my arrival still not completely resolved, he didn't want to risk leaving them in someone else's hands should something else come up. Though he would be present at the ceremony, his magical power would be focused elsewhere.

"His _mind_ probably will be too." Luna remarked, "He's giving up smoking for the occasion. You should feel special Alice, that is a truly rare occurrence." She winked.

And despite her joking tone, I really did feel a twinge of pride that he'd (_briefly_) given all of us a respite from that horrid smoke just for my wedding. He must like me more than I thought…

"_Tarrant_ _Hightopp_, if you don't leave that tie alone, Luna will wring your neck with it! If she sees one hair out of place on you _**or**_Alice we'll have to stall the whole wedding; _cut_ _it_ _out_!" for the millionth time since we arrived in New Witzend, a village built only a mile from the original town, I scolded the Hatter for picking at his clothes. First it had been the hem of his kilt, and then he readjusted his hat so many times before taking it off that I lost count, now he was tightening and loosening his tie repeatedly. His father had threatened to _**sit**_ on him to make him stop, but he hadn't registered the warning.

Christian and I shared the concern that he was going to wear out the soles of his shoes pacing back and forth in front of the seating area. The rest of us were standing around in the general area we needed to be in for the ceremony or, in my case, lounging in the front row, while he flattened the grass.

"I'm sorry I…I'm just nervous is all…"

"About _**what**_? If something is dumb enough to come anywhere _**near**_here with the Outlanders hanging about, then it's not going to get a very warm welcome." Samuel tried to reassured his son, but to no avail. He started worrying at his cuff links.

"Not about demons and whatnot…just…I-"

"Surely you can't mean _Alice_ is what you're worried about?!" our group passed incredulous glances to each other and to the groom-to-be, but his eyes fell to the ground.

"Worried something will happen to her before she gets here…" he muttered, "We don't know what we're up against; who knows if they can handle what we've set on their shoulders?"

Though he wasn't wrong there, I saw no reason to fret so terribly over it this close to the ceremony. There would literally be thousands of the magically-endowed tribesmen and women surrounding the meadow, so surely all of their combined powers would keep us safe from anything or anybody that had the foolish notion to try and crash this wedding.

Danzia's hulking presence behind the altar was the most reassuring aspect, as his sheer size would be enough to deter anything with good sense, not to mention King Braden's additional strength and King Sunyi's knowledge of the combative arts. Christian was a highly-trained monster wrangler in Nidaria, which would also come in handy. Tarrant and Samuel could both take care of themselves, as could my father. I would've added myself and Elias to that line up, but logic shot that thought down when it occurred to me, due to the fact that I couldn't even defeat _**Luna**_ on one of my good days, and the fact that Eli was in fact, still a child (_Mome Rath slaying aside_). Remy, I discovered, was easily spooked, so he was out too.

We aren't relying on Thorne for anything. I was shocked he even bothered to show up.

I really wish he hadn't. He was such a pain…thankfully, he was too busy harassing some of the Outlanders –though they weren't really giving him much of a reaction – to notice the rest of us.

On the other hand, he wasn't absorbed enough in troubling them to be deaf to the distant shrieks that suddenly rang in our ears, though he wasn't in the number that raced from the dais to investigate.

It had happened so quickly that I almost didn't have time to react; the sky overhead darkened, the air got heavy and cold, and a dead silence swept around us. The Outlanders started yelling out in their native language and balls of multicolored light formed in their palms. By the time my hand gripped one of the weapons concealed in the carriage, one of the smaller girls had shot down a bird-like creature that landed on the other side of the buggy with a stomach-turning liquid sound. It soon dissolved into a black puddle that singed the grass and trees that it touched, and a sharp, bitter smell wafted to us on the chilling wind.

Amid the chaos of the skirmish, Allura and a younger girl leapt onto the driver's seat of the wagon and cracked the reigns, jolting us forward. Other Outlanders followed suit, taking over the ones behind us. Those that didn't commandeer a vehicle were left to fend off our attackers, and were doing a _**marvelous**_ job the last time I turned to watch.

The rest of us were too stunned and afraid to do much of anything but cower in our seats.

Fortunately, we didn't have much further to go before we reached the site, and the rest of the Outlanders ran out to greet us before long. While they sailed by in a tattooed mass without a second glance, the boys that belonged to us swarmed around their wives, sisters, mothers, and daughters, and as soon as we were behind the line of warriors, they practically grabbed us out of the carriages and pulled us into the protected clearing. A shield had been placed around the new village to prevent tragedies like the Horunvendush Day, but that didn't seem to discourage the few demons that successfully swooped past the small army of light-wielding witches and shamans.

I almost started laughing when the first one smacked into the invisible wall, splayed out in all directions. However, all humor ceased when cracks became visible and their ungodly wailing pierced the buffer as more of them slammed into its surface.

"They're…they're trying to break through it…" Ilosovic breathed.

"What're we gonna do? We can't fight those things!" Zada held a saber shakily, the tip of the sword dragging the ground. Christian couldn't steady his wife's hand for his own shivering so violently.

"No need." A voice that rumbled like thunder said from behind us, just as a brilliant beam of light shot over us and spread into a dome, instantly repelling any remaining monsters and melting those that couldn't escape. We whirled around to be faced with the Shaman King looming over us, his enormous hand still glowing from the spell he cast. Someone's sword clattered to the ground as we stared in awe of our rescuer, though no one looked to see whose it was.

The shield faded from our vision, though in reality it did not disappear, and no more demons attempted to penetrate it. And after a few tense moments, the last of the creatures were struck down just out of sight of the meadow, and the war party returned victorious…though most of them were covered in black goop that smelled rotten and sour.

"We didn't lose any of ours, brodah. Dese werh not powahful bein's…" Allura had quickly counted heads, though I don't see how that was possible with their numbers.

"But dey ahre cahntrolled by one…creacha's like dis do not act on deir own." Danzia noted a gelatinous pile around the rim of the shield, "After dis ceremony, we must find whoeva is responsible."

"Agreed."

The two of them then turned to the rest of us, and informed everyone that the wedding would soon commence.

After all the hubbub finally died down, all the dresses were smoothed out and the tuxes were rebuttoned properly, we pried Tarrant and Alice apart just long enough to get him to the other end of the aisle with his mother and the Shaman King and Witch Queen.

The groomsmen and my fellow bridesmaids fell in line like soldiers behind Ilosovic and Mirana as we marched to meet them, taking our respective places on the left or right of the altar. Although I knew we weren't the main focus of attention today, I was still trembling slightly when eyes fell on me from the crowd. This was the first wedding I had been to in many years; I had almost forgotten how to act!

"_Luna, relax. You're doing just fine._" Absolem fluttered by on his way to his seat behind where Danzia and Allura stood. Being Guardian of the Oraculum got you special privileges on occasions like this.

I silently thanked him, then turned frontwards to get a better look at Alice's dress. There was a collective intake of breath when everyone's jaw dropped to the ground; the shimmering train extended a good three feet behind her in a silver waterfall, her bodice hugged her tightly like the suit of armor it was modeled after, and her veil was held in place by a bejeweled tiara in the shape of a butterfly (_I'm sure Absolem loved that bit._)

"_Oh my_…" Zada sighed, "_her gown is amazing_…"

"_Thank you. It took hours to sew_."

"_Well of course, it __**was**__ something __**you**__ did Lu. No wonder all these gowns are so pretty._"

"_What do you think about the suits?_" I nudged her with my elbow and cut my eyes over to Ilosovic, who was completely oblivious to the lot of us. Zada eyed her husband while the White Queen gazed off into the distance.

"_Very handsome indeed._"

"_Indeed_."

We giggled behind our hands until Samuel and Alice stopped a few feet away, and the ceremony officially began. Ilosovic overheard our snickering, but any comeback he had formulated was cut off by Danzia's voice resounding all around us. T'was not mercy that spared him from further chattering amongst the womenfolk.

"Who gives dis womahn awey to be wed?" his golden eyes scanned over the bride-to-be and her father in law, taking in all the happiness radiating off of them.

"I do, in her father's stead." Samuel passed her off to my dear cousin, who was more than eager to have Alice at his side again after our mishap between here and Marmoreal. Her smile faltered a bit at the mention of her father, but the sadness was gone as quickly as it came when she stood next to the Hatter.

Uncle Sam walked briskly to his seat where Mother Rose was waiting, alongside Alexander and Jasmin. Tarrant's mother and father beamed proudly at their only child, while Ilosovic's parents made facial expressions towards theirs that suggested that they thought he should be next in line for engagement. His cheeks flushed bright pink when he caught me batting my eyelashes at him. Mirana raised her eyebrows at him and tipped her head back at me. He was outnumbered and he knew it.

Anyhow, back to the matter at hand…

Danzia reached back to a small table and unfolded what looked like a navy blue blanket, revealing the Vorpal Sword. His thick hands encircled the hilt as he placed it in between the bride and groom, "Alice, place your 'ands on de handle." He instructed her, only leaving his finger touching the sword to keep it upright.

The second her skin connected with the hallowed metal, the same sparks the Outlanders had been firing from their fingertips encircled her, forming one half of an arch above her and wrapping themselves around her arms and the blade itself. A few people in the crowd jumped back from the flash, but most only shielded their eyes against its brightness. Alice herself marveled at the pastel colored lights.

"Tarrant, place your 'ands on hers."

His hands wrapped around her fingers, sending a shower of sparks around him that completed the arch that encircled the two sweethearts. The ribbons of light around their arms and the sword began to swirl and intertwine, drawing them closer together as the Outlands' king released his grip on the Vorpal Sword.

"If anybody 'ere objects to dis wedding, speak now before de vows ahre read." Allura, who had been standing on the other side of them, said. Everyone silently held their breath, waiting for someone to pipe up and say something. An objection to this marriage would likely cause riots in the streets!

After a terribly long and tense silence, the Shaman King continued with the ceremony, "Very well." He turned to Tarrant, "Do you swear on dis blessed sword that you take dis womahn to be your wife? Dat you will love her and no otha as long as you live? No matter what befalls you or her?"

He looked at the priest like he'd just asked him the dumbest questions in the world, but he answered nonetheless, "Of course I do."

Danzia nodded, and one of the Tweedles approached with a pillow, bearing one ring, "Take her left 'and, and remove de engagement ring. Replace it wit de wedding band."

As he removed the bejeweled ring from her finger and replaced it with a silver one in the image of a dragon clutching a blue gem, the swirls of lights on his side converged on the new ring and seemed to vanish inside of it as it settled against her skin. None appeared above him to replace them, and hers remained as they were.

"Now Alice, do _**you**_ swear on this blessed sword that you will take dis mahn as your 'usband? Dat you will love 'im and no otha as long as you live? No matter what befalls you or 'im?" Allura read her her vows.

With a single tear of joy rolling down her cheek, Alice smiled, "Yes, I do."

"Take 'is right 'and, and remove 'is engagement ring. Replace it wit de wedding band."

The second Tweedle came forth, carrying another ring that resembled a bronze sword encrusted with jade. Alice's lights followed the ring as she slipped it onto his hand, significantly dimming the intensity of the light in the clearing. It was much easier to see them now, and to see in general.

At last, the priest and priestess spoke the words that everyone had been waiting for in unison, "By de powah of de Vorpal Blade, ye be wed! You may kiss de bride now, Hattah."

He didn't waste any time in doing as he was told.

The reception lasted well into the evening, with much dancing, plenty of food, and not to mention the gifts the newlyweds got!

Each kingdom or queendom presented the couple with presents; Mirana gave them the Vorpal Sword (_an additional could be made quite easily_), Queen Rubi had two cloaks made that were basically indestructible and could camouflage themselves if need be, King Braden got a tad out of hand…he gave them both a pair of beautiful horses and _**all**_ sorts of furniture for their house, and King Sunyi hand-picked their carriage himself, and had his own servants pack their luggage for the honeymoon.

The Outlanders had sent a party out to their house to bless it with charms and spells to keep any demons out and to exorcise any already present. Danzia and Allura individually presented them with with two pendants, as is traditional, for good luck and prosperity in their new life.

Tarrant's family also pitched in with gifts of their own; Luna sewed Alice a sun dress to match her bathing suit, Samuel (_having taught his son the trade of hat making_) gave her a hat to keep the sun off her head while they were swimming in the Frill River or taking an afternoon stroll, Rosalynn made a patchwork quilt out of swatches of fabric that everyone had contributed, and Christian had been generous enough to provide the actual cabin for their honeymoon.

It was a little cottage that he and Zada had vacationed in for many summers, and they thought it was perfect for a romantic rendezvous. Tarrant and Alice seemed to agree.

My gift was something I bought on a whim while we were in Overland, thinking that perhaps Alice would enjoy it should she become homesick (_though that wasn't likely_). It was a little silver music box with two dancers inside that played a song she probably knew called "_Labyrinth of Dreams_". When I played its melody the other night, it reminded me of her first visit here…well, the fact that she thought it was a dream, anyhow, and the fact that she frequently lost her way.

She adored it, and insisted that it be placed on the mantle when they returned home, and as thanks for the gift – and much to my surprise – she actually hugged me around my waist (_that was the highest she could reach without pulling me to my knees_). Tarrant wondered aloud how I got the two dancers to resemble him and his wife so closely, but I refused to divulge my secret and he quickly dropped the subject when the band started up for their first dance.

After about the sixth quadrille of the night, I couldn't feel my own legs properly and decided to find myself a tree to relax under for a while. The trunk wasn't too knotty or bumpy, so I reclined against it and watched the festivities while trying to hold my eyes open. Sleep was fast-approaching, but I didn't want to tear myself away from the party to go home just yet.

Just as I was about to relent and "rest my eyes", a voice popped into my ears from my left side, "Mind if I join you?" Luna collected her skirt and curled up beside me.

"Ah, now I should be able to stay up…how are _you_ not asleep yet though?" I yawned, throwing my arm around her.

"Living in Snud as long as I have has prepared me for parties like this. Sunyi is known for dances and galas that last for weeks at a time, and he invites the entire kingdom to all of them." Her silver eyes showed no trace of exhaustion as she laid her head on my shoulder; her smile was no less bright than it was at the beginning of the ceremony this morning.

The King of Clubs sauntered by a few feet away, chatting energetically with Queen Rubi, who looked as though she was about to fall over. He didn't seem like much of a partier at first glance, but seeing as how only he and the residents of his realm were able to continue dancing like it was going out of style after nearly nine hours, I guess I was incorrect…

"Maybe if I hadn't eaten so much I'd be able to stay standing for more than five minutes at at time…"

"That could be the problem, dear. Say, isn't that Uncle Sam over there-" she stopped mid-sentence, her mouth gaping open, "He got into the ale again." She groaned.

Searching the crowd for the father of the groom, my eyes fell on Mr. Hightopp attempting to scale the maypole for some reason, and loudly proclaiming that "That bloody White Knave couldn't touch the top of it if he tried!"

Assuming that he wasn't referring to me, I glanced over to my father, who was standing at the base of the pole shaking his head and laughing. It was hard to tell if he had instigated this situation or if he was an innocent bystander, but Mother Rose didn't care either way. She was scolding them both simultaneously and doing her best to coax her husband back down, both endeavors to no avail.

"Should we go help get him down?"

Luna scoffed, "What good would that do? If he won't come down for her, he won't listen to either of us."

Now Tarrant was trying to persuade his father to come down, which also was accomplishing nothing. Christian threatened to cut the thing down if Samuel didn't return his feet to the soil, which only stirred up a torrent of Outlandish from the older Hightopp.

Fortunately, the majority of the young children had been sent into the houses to sleep until it was time to leave, so none of them heard the string of profanity. Any of the older ones that did were told that if they repeated so much as one word of that sentence that they would have their mouths washed out…_**vigorously**_.

"They may have to call the soldiers to get him off of it."

"I don't suppose a King or a Queen would do the trick?"

"Not likely, but _somebody_ needs to before the pole breaks."

I was beginning to wonder if we needed to fetch the Bandersnatch to push the beam over enough where someone could snatch him off, but suddenly Alice was standing beneath her father-in-law, and he seemed to be listening to what she was saying. She beckoned for him to come down to her, as she and Tarrant were preparing to leave for their house for the night, so that they could tell him goodbye.

After contemplating this for a moment, he slowly began his descent, and landed somewhat unsteadily in front of her. Everyone around the pole breathed a sigh of relief, while everyone else who had been watching looked on in disbelief.

"Hmm, she _**is**_rather resourceful, isn't she? _Clever_ little thing." Thorne suddenly appeared to my right, twirling a glass of the notorious Nidarian ale between his fingers.

"Can't you go hassle somebody else for a change? I'm sure there are plenty of other souls here for you to torment, Arondight." I shot daggers at the Knight, only to see his smug face grinning down at me.

"I beg your pardon, my good fellow, I didn't mean to intrude but…Absolem wanted to tell you that he spoke with Tarrant, and he mentioned that necklace to him that you wanted checked out and he's gone to get it for you." He stated his business and then produced another cup of ale from behind his back, "Care for a drink?"

"If you don't get out of my sight, you might drive me to it."

"Suit yourself." He set the drink on the ground beside me and continued, "He also said he should be back before you all leave, but that he might go home through a different Glass, so if he doesn't see you before you return to Marmoreal he bids you good night and fairfarren, Ilosovic."

"Well if he wanted to tell me all this, why didn't he tell me himself?"

Thorne began to trot away nonchalantly, walking backwards as he spoke, "He was in a terrible hurry to get there and back, so he didn't have time to hunt you down at the moment. He couldn't find you earlier, so I took it upon myself to relay the message if I saw you first." He sneered before turning away and disappearing into the crowd, "Good night, Miss Hightopp."

Luna looked like she wanted to spit on him just for speaking to us, "I do wish that man would take a long walk off a short pier." She snarled.

"Or the side of a mountain."

I stood and helped her to her feet, and we began heading over to the rest of our friends together, "Wait, you aren't going to drink that, are you?" we paused momentarily, eyeing the goblet of green liquid Thorne had given me. I took it into my hand and tipped it over, spilling its contents into the grass.

"Drink what, darling?"

Neither of us noticed the singed, shriveling grass as we were leaving.

"Thank you for having us, Alice. The wedding was gorgeous!" I managed to rouse the little ones from their naps before midnight so we could congratulate the newlyweds and get home before the sun came up. However, we had been in the process of leaving for nearly an hour and hadn't even gotten into our buggy yet.

"I'm so happy you all could make it!" we hugged tightly, at which time she whispered, "_Don't forget to invite me to yours someday._" She pointedly glanced in the direction of a certain member of the White Queen's army.

My face was blushing when I pulled away, but we were both beaming, "You'll be one of the first to know. I promise."

We bid each other farewell, and after I placed my daughters into our carriage, I tugged Ilosovic aside as though I was telling him goodbye, "I've got a surprise for you…"

His eyes widened in anticipation, "What is it?"

I was scarcely able to contain myself in order to tell him, but somehow I managed to keep together long enough to inform him that my girls and I would be moving in to one of the newly built cottages in the village.

So would his parents, and Mother Rose and Uncle Sam, and Christian and Zada and little Remy. We were all coming home.

The only faces that I saw that were nearly as happy as his were my cousin and his new wife as they departed for a brief rest stop in Marmoreal.

Ilosovic lifted me so high into the air I nearly touched the limbs on the trees above us with the top of my head, but the kiss that followed the twirling sent me soaring past the clouds and into the stars.

It was then that I realized how much I envied Tarrant and Alice…

By the time dawn was breaking over Marmoreal, Tarrant and I had just reached our house and slunk into the bed with the last of our energy. It was only by some miracle that we had changed out of our wedding clothes and into nightclothes, and yet another that we made it to the mattress rather than landing face-first on the floor.

I spent the majority of my first day as a married woman sleeping beside my husband… and I didn't mind that one bit. We were so comfortable that we nearly forgot how tired we really were; being all cuddled up beneath the quilt we'd gotten the night before.

I almost didn't want to get up to leave for the cabin by the river, until I realized that our honeymoon would be a continuation of us waking up beside one another and spending our hours together…as would every day afterwards.

After a strong cup of tea and breakfast for dinner, we loaded into our carriage and started for our destination, the minutes stretching into hours that crept by ever so slowly. Time was teasing us in retaliation for Tarrant's past attempts on his life, I suppose…but a happier thought occurred to me when I thought of Time's shenanigans.

The longer I have with just me and my Hatter, the better, so Time needn't be in any hurry.


End file.
